Amgen CEO Bob Bradway told CNBC on Tuesday that the company’s experimental obesity drug, MariTide, could help patients sustain weight loss over the long term, addressing a persistent challenge in the field.
“We think we can address one of the reasons that the field is struggling a little bit, which is the patient persistence issue,” Bradway said during an interview with Jim Cramer.
Amgen announced on Monday that a clinical trial of MariTide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, demonstrated that patients maintained weight loss for two years when administered via a monthly injection. In contrast, most currently approved weight loss injections require weekly dosing.
Bradway expressed optimism that the drug’s dosing schedule could be extended even further. “We expect the drug can be used monthly or even less frequently,” he said, citing encouraging data that suggest the therapy could be administered quarterly. He added that Amgen is exploring multiple dose levels to determine how best to ensure patients remain on the therapy, emphasizing that “persistence is the name of the game.”
The Amgen CEO also addressed the company’s recent acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, noting that the deal aligns with Amgen’s expertise in biologics and autoimmunity.
“The medicines we acquired address autoimmune conditions, and they’re largely biologics at an early stage of their life cycle,” Bradway said. “We’re continuing to explore ways and new diseases that might benefit from these treatments. And so far, so good.”
With MariTide’s potential for less frequent dosing and Horizon’s pipeline of early-stage biologics, Amgen is positioning itself to tackle both obesity and autoimmune diseases through innovative therapies.
