Amgen shares sink on obesity drug concerns; AstraZeneca to spend $3.5B on manufacturing

Today, a brief rundown of news involving Amgen and AstraZeneca, as well as updates from Roche, Novartis, and Centessa Pharmaceuticals that you may have missed.

Amgen lost $12 billion in market value Tuesday after a Wall Street analyst published a note suggesting the company’s closely watched obesity drug MariTide might be associated with loss of bone density. The note, from Cantor Fitzgerald’s Olivia Brayer, cited data from volunteers in a Phase 1 trial of MariTide who received the highest drug dose. While the data came from a Nature paper published earlier this year, Brayer uncovered hidden tabs in an Excel file included as part of the supplemental appendix. Amgen’s drug stimulates a gut hormone called GIP, which Brayer hypothesized may decrease bone density. On Wednesday, Amgen released a statement saying it “does not see an association between the administration of MariTide and bone mineral density changes.” — Jonathan Gardner

Shares in Lexeo Therapeutics rose by nearly 20% Wednesday after the company said it had reached agreement with the Food and Drug Administration on how to proceed in developing a gene therapy for Friedreich ataxia with cardiomyopathy. The company now plans to measure expression of a protein called frataxin as well as reductions in left ventricular mass index as the two primary goals of a planned registrational study. If successful, Lexeo could pursue an accelerated approval of its therapy, dubbed LX2006. — Ned Pagliarulo

AstraZeneca will spend $3.5 billion to open or expand new research and manufacturing facilities in the U.S. over the next two years, adding more than 1,000 jobs in the process. The funds will be invested in a “next-generation” biologics facility in Maryland, AstraZeneca’s research and development center in Massachusetts, cell therapy manufacturing on both the East and West coasts, and specialty drug production in Texas. Through the first nine months of 2024, AstraZeneca’s capital expenditures amounted to about $1.2 billion. — Jonathan Gardner

Roche is paying $70 million to startup Flare Therapeutics to develop small molecule drugs targeting “transcription factors,” or proteins that turn genes on or off, in oncology. Flare will lead discovery and preclinical activities identifying transcription factors, while Roche will lead preclinical, clinical and commercialization of any products that emerge from the collaboration. Flare could earn additional payments and royalties of up to $1.8 billion based on the success of any products, and has the option to co-fund development of one drug in return for increased payments. Launched in 2021 with backing from Third Rock Ventures, Flare has raised $205 million in venture investment. — Jonathan Gardner

Novartis is paying drug discovery specialist Schrödinger $150 million to start a multi-year research collaboration and expand an agreement giving the Swiss pharmaceutical company access to Schrödinger’s predictive modeling technology. The two companies intend to work together to identify disease targets in therapeutic areas that are central to Novartis’ R&D strategy, and advance “multiple” drugs against them. Novartis will handle clinical development of any candidates that emerge from the partnership. — Ned Pagliarulo

Centessa Pharmaceuticals is discontinuing developing of a hemophilia B treatment in what it described in a statement Tuesday as a “strategic and data-driven decision” informed by the “evolving treatment and market landscape” for the blood disease. Centessa will instead invest those resources to advance an orexin agonist for narcolepsy and idiopathic hyposomnia. Phase 1 data for that drug, released by the company Tuesday, showed promise, according to analysts. — Ned Pagliarulo

This post has been syndicated from a third-party source. View the original article here.