Amgen Q2 - All about weightloss

Amgen just reported its second-quarter results, and they were strong. Revenue for the quarter came in at $9.2 billion, up 9% year-on-year. Adjusted earnings showed a healthy 21% jump. That beat expectations and points to a business still firing, even as some legacy brands begin to fade into the background. Volumes were up 13% across the board.

We own this stock because it has a range of biotech drugs, and there's no shortage of standout performers in their brand portfolio. Repatha grew 31% to $696 million, in line with increasing cardiovascular awareness globally. Evenity came in hot with $518 million (+32%), as more physicians get comfortable with it as a front-line bone therapy.

Tezspire is a newer entrant in the asthma space, its sales surged 46% to $342 million. Then there's Imdelltra, Amgen's lung cancer therapy, up a remarkable 65% from the first quarter to $134 million, showing serious early traction. Even biosimilars, usually a sleepy category, contributed $661 million, a 40% leap year-on-year.

Otezla, one of Amgen's big autoimmune bets, rose 14% to $618 million, due to favourable rebates and modest volume gains. But not everything was up and to the right: Prolia and Xgeva both declined 4% to 5%, facing a mix of pricing pressure and volume softness as they've entered biosimilar territory, with US patents already expired and European ones set to fall in November. Three biosimilars for Prolia have already hit the US market, so expect sharper erosion in the second half.

Amgen is leaning in heavily on its obesity pipeline, particularly on MariTide, with R&D spend up 18% to $1.42 billion. There's a clear trade-off here: build for the next wave or coast on what's already working. Amgen's chosen the former, according to CEO Robert Bradway (pictured below).

MariTide is Amgen's GLP-1 obesity drug candidate, and the horse they're backing hard, with good reason. It's not just another weekly jab like Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, this one is a once-a-month injection, which could offer real differentiation.

In trials, MariTide has shown up to 20% weight loss over 52 weeks, with no apparent plateau and improvement in cardio-metabolic health markers. Phase 3 trials are now fully enrolled, including studies on cardiovascular outcomes, heart failure, and one kicking off soon in sleep apnoea. Phase 2 data for obesity in diabetics and non-diabetics is expected by the end of 2025.

Despite all the positives, Amgen's share price dipped slightly after the results. Likely a combination of short-term concerns around biosimilar erosion and the long wait for obesity trial results. Still, Amgen's share price is up over 11% year-to-date, well ahead of its peers in biotech.