Can Amgen's MariTide Take on Leaders in the Obesity Space?

Amgen AMGN is one of the few companies with a late-stage obesity candidate in its pipeline. The company is developing MariTide, an investigational GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist, as part of its comprehensive MARITIME phase III program in obesity. With this drug, Amgen intends to take on Eli Lilly LLY and Novo Nordisk NVO, which currently dominate this space with their respective injectable GLP-1 therapies.

A key differentiator for MariTide is its long-acting profile. Unlike currently marketed GLP-1 drugs, such as Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, which require weekly injections, MariTide is designed for monthly or potentially even less frequent dosing. Amgen has reported predictable and sustained weight loss, with clinically meaningful improvements in cardiometabolic parameters, in earlier studies, positioning MariTide as a potentially more convenient long-term treatment option in a market increasingly focused on adherence and durability.

Amgen is evaluating MariTide across a broad range of cardiometabolic indications, with obesity at the center of its development strategy. Enrollment has been completed in two pivotal late-stage studies — MARITIME-1 and MARITIME-2 — which are evaluating the drug in patients with obesity, with and without type II diabetes, respectively. Roughly 5,000 patients were enrolled across these studies in a relatively short time frame, underscoring strong investigator and patient interest in the program.

Apart from obesity, MariTide is also being studied in phase III studies for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and heart failure, as well as in obstructive sleep apnea. These indications could significantly expand the drug’s commercial potential if weight loss translates into downstream cardiometabolic and cardiovascular benefits, as suggested by earlier-stage data.

Market Leaders Continue to Raise the Bar

Despite MariTide’s differentiated dosing profile, the obesity treatment landscape is evolving rapidly. Recently, Novo Nordisk secured FDA approval for the pill version of Wegovy, marking approval for the first GLP-1 RA approved in an oral form for weight management. Compared with injectable formulations, the pill offers a far more convenient administration option, significantly lowering treatment burden and potentially improving patient adherence. Novo Nordisk expects to launch the Wegovy pill in early next month and has priced the drug at $149 per month for patients without insurance.

Eli Lilly is also moving quickly in this direction. Earlier this month, LLY submitted a regulatory filing seeking approval for its oral obesity candidate, orforglipron, setting the stage for a potential launch next year. The arrival of effective oral GLP-1 therapies raises the bar for differentiation and could reshape patient and physician preferences across the obesity market.

That said, this push for oral pills does not signal a retreat from injectables for either market leader. Eli Lilly continues to invest aggressively across next-generation obesity therapies with diverse mechanisms of action. Its pipeline includes orforglipron, a once-daily oral small-molecule GLP-1, as well as retatrutide, a triple-hormone (GIP/GLP-1/glucagon) agonist being developed as a next-generation injectable.

Novo Nordisk is similarly expanding its next wave of obesity treatments. It is advancing a next-generation therapy called amycretin, both as an injectable and an oral formulation. NVO plans to initiate a phase III program for amycretin in the first quarter of 2026, reinforcing its strategy of maintaining leadership across multiple modalities rather than relying on a single product class.

AMGN’s Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates

Shares of Amgen have outperformed the industry year to date, as seen in the chart below.

From a valuation standpoint, Amgen is trading at a discount to the industry. Based on the price/earnings (P/E) ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 15.20 times forward earnings compared to the industry's average of 17.56. The stock is trading above its five-year mean of 13.76.

EPS estimates for 2025 and 2026 have risen in the past 60 days.

Amgen currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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