Shares of Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) and Eli Lilly & Co. (NYSE:LLY) are down premarket Friday as competition in the GLP-1 market. Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) disclosed that it looked at AMG133's unblinded phase 2 interim trial and came away confident in 133's differentiated profile.
AMG 133 is Amgen's obesity candidate and is currently being assessed in a trial among participants who are overweight or obese, with or without type 2 diabetes.
AMGN reported earnings after the close Friday, with analysts at Deutsche Bank stating that the company "notes 133's differentiation is relative to currently approved GLP1s and most importantly, those in the pipeline."
Following the earnings release, LLY shares are down 2.3% premarket, while Novo Nordisk's ADRs declined 3%.
"133 dominated the Q&A session and rightfully so, there's so much at stake and left to the imagination until 133's full Ph2 read out at year-end 24," stated Deutsche Bank.
The bank added: "Objectively, these questions still remain - we don't know if the triglyceride signal was resolved. 133's Ph2 data is still pending and the recovery in AMGN shares is completely based on qualitative comments. That said, AMGN's comments sounded bullish and will likely weigh on the incumbents LLY (& NVO)."
Elsewhere, analysts at Barclays said they believe it's "far too early to really make any sort of conclusions" regarding the competitive profile of AMG 133.
"As of today, we see no cause for concern regarding the competitive dynamics vs. the market leaders as we really will need to see the data," said analysts at Barclays. "We certainly expect this to come up at the Novo management lunch in London today and will report back anything we hear this afternoon."