Amgen scraps experimental weight reduction capsule, strikes ahead with injection

Amgen on Thursday stated it’s going to cease growing its experimental weight reduction capsule and as a substitute transfer ahead with its injectable drug and different merchandise in improvement for weight problems.

The announcement is a setback for Amgen, which is amongst a number of drugmakers racing to hitch the red-hot weight reduction drug area dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which some analysts say may very well be price $100 billion by the top of the last decade. However the firm has different alternatives to seize a slice of the market.

“Given the profile we have seen with [the oral drug], we won’t pursue additional improvement. As an alternative, in weight problems, we’re differentially investing in MariTide and various preclinical belongings,” Jay Bradner, Amgen’s chief scientific officer, stated throughout an earnings name Thursday.

Amgen is growing an injectable weight problems remedy known as MariTide, which is an ongoing midstage trial in overweight or obese adults with out diabetes. The corporate will launch preliminary knowledge from that examine later this 12 months and stated it’s working with regulators to plan a late-stage trial. Amgen is planning a stage two trial on the drug in diabetes remedy as effectively.

Amgen additionally has different medication in improvement for weight administration. 

The drugmaker’s oral drug, known as AMG-786, is the second weight reduction capsule to be discontinued over the previous 12 months.

Pfizer in December scrapped a twice-daily model of its weight problems capsule, danuglipron, after sufferers had a troublesome time tolerating the drug in a midstage trial. The corporate is now growing a once-daily model of that drug.

Buyers are laser-focused on Amgen’s pipeline of experimental weight reduction therapies. Amgen hopes to face out among the many crowded area of potential gamers with a special method. 

The corporate’s experimental injection helps individuals drop some pounds in another way from the prevailing injectable medication. A lot just like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, one a part of Amgen’s remedy prompts a intestine hormone receptor known as GLP-1 to assist regulate an individual’s urge for food. 

However whereas Zepbound prompts a second hormone receptor known as GIP, Amgen’s drug blocks it. Wegovy doesn’t goal GIP, which suppresses urge for food like GLP-1, however may additionally enhance how the physique breaks down sugar and fats.

Amgen’s injectable remedy additionally seems to assist sufferers maintain weight off after they cease taking it based mostly on some scientific trial knowledge. The drugmaker can also be testing its drug to be taken as soon as a month and even much less incessantly, which may supply extra comfort than the weekly medicines available on the market. 

Sufferers given the very best dose of Amgen’s MariTide — 420 milligrams — each month misplaced 14.5% of their physique weight on common in simply 12 weeks, in response to data from the phase one trial revealed in February within the journal Nature Metabolism.