Latest news with #AnjKhem
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Novo Nordisk's latest bet on obesity pills: $2.2 billion for biotech Septerna
Novo Nordisk (NVO) announced a new $2.2 billion deal with San Francisco-based biotech Septerna (SEPN) for obesity pills — the latest in a series of moves by the Danish drugmaker as it hopes to maintain its position as one of two leaders in the hot obesity market. Novo Nordisk said Wednesday that the company agreed to an exclusive collaboration and licensing agreement for "oral small molecules for obesity, Type 2 diabetes and other cardio-metabolic diseases," which are all the areas the current GLP-1 drugs address. Septerna's stock was up 64% in premarket trading on Wednesday, and dropped to 48% after trading began. Novo Nordisk's stock traded up a little over 1%. Read more about Novo Nordisk's stock moves and today's market action. The deal is the latest in a series focused on the pill market for obesity, deemed the next frontier in the race for the next generation of weight-loss drugs. Novo Nordisk already has an oral version of its top weight-loss injectable, Wegovy, awaiting FDA approval. It could see a decision from the FDA by the end of this year. Investors have been watching Novo Nordisk's moves closely as Wegovy has begun to lose ground, based on prescription data, to competitor Eli Lilly's (LLY) Zepbound. Novo also recently announced a $1.75 billion deal with Lexicon (LXRX) for an oral obesity treatment currently in development. In addition to the deals for pills, the company has secured deals to help boost access to its drugs, notably a deal with CVS (CVS) to be the exclusive drug on its formulary for obesity and deals with telehealth companies like Hims & Hers (HIMS) to help reach patients willing to pay cash. The deal with CVS also includes a cash pay option for $499 per month, about half the list price of the drug. The deal with Septerna puts the biotech in charge through the early discovery and dosing phase. Once a lead option is chosen, Novo Nordisk will take over production and development. Septerna will receive $195 million upfront and up to $500 million additional for each of its four current pill candidates if they make it through early trials. JPM analysts said in a note to clients that the move was a clear boost for Septerna. The biotech had faced some setbacks in other drug candidates and, as of last year-end, had $421 million in cash on hand, which would help support its operations into 2028. "We view this morning's pre-market move (+70%) as appropriate and remain bullish on the potential for Septerna's platform to deliver value through small molecule solutions," the analysts said Wednesday. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Eli Lilly stock slips despite earnings beat, reaffirmed 2025 guidance
Eli Lilly (LLY) reported first quarter earnings beating Wall Street's expectations Thursday on the top and bottom lines, but GLP-1 sales weren't as strong as expected. Lilly reported adjusted earnings per share of $3.34 compared to consensus of $3.10. Revenue came in at $12.73 billion, compared to estimates of $12.67 billion. The company's stock was trading down nearly 5% in pre-market Thursday. Investors saw sales of blockbuster GLP-1s — Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss — come in "modestly" ahead of consensus. The two drugs alone brought in a combined $6.1 billion, or nearly half of the revenue in the quarter. Zepbound was ahead by $32 million while Mounjaro came in ahead by $70 million. Still, Lilly holds the lead in the current race between first-to-market Novo Nordisk (NVO) for weight loss, as Zepbound overtook Wegovy in recent months. But that could be threatened by an announcement Thursday that one of the country's largest pharmacy benefits managers, CVS (CVS), is excluding Zepbound in favor of Wegovy on its formulary. Lilly CEO David Ricks told Yahoo Finance he is not worried about the PBM move and is instead focusing on the next generation of drugs. "We're well into the product replacement cycle, and there's more to come. We're not interested in exclusive deals," Ricks said. "It feels a little bit like last decade, these sort of lock-up deals," he added. Lilly's weekly prescription data for Zepbound is up 354% year-over-year, while Novo's Wegovy is up just 61%. That's based on the latest prescription tracking data by analytics firm IQVIA, which shows total prescriptions for Wegovy at 211,103 in the week of April 18, and Zepbound totaling 338,899 prescriptions in the same week. Lilly still lags behind Novo in the diabetes space, with Ozempic accounting for 43% of the market share while Mounjaro takes 39%, based on IQVIA data. The company has been ramping up production of the injectable GLP-1s to meet ongoing demand. Both Novo and Lilly executives has said in the past that demand will outstrip supply for some time. And both companies have seen the FDA take their drugs off its shortage list, meaning competition from compounding pharmacies — which were allowed to make copycats of the patented products — will reduce. Still, Lilly is now the lead contender for first-to-market in pill form after Pfizer (PFE) halted its clinical trial this month. Meanwhile, as it awaits Trump's decision on pharmaceutical tariffs, the company has committed to increasing its production capacity in the US, to the tune of $27 billion, making the total commitment $50 billion since 2020. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Humana reports strong first quarter earnings as Medicare Advantage costs hit the mark
Humana (HUM) reported first quarter earnings that topped Wall Street expectations Wednesday, helping drive shares 5% higher in pre-market trading. The healthcare company beat on adjusted earnings per share of $11.58, compared to Wall Street's estimates of $10.09. Revenue came in at a slight miss of $32.11 billion, just under the consensus of $32.15 billion. Humana results stayed in line with its own expectations, and it reaffirmed its full-year guidance. The company expects its medical loss ratio — the ratio of premiums taken in versus paid out — to be between 90.1% to 90.5% for the year. While that is on the higher side of the Affordable Care Act's required threshold of 85%, Humana said that it's confident in its pricing strategies and that the Medicare Advantage spend is in line with expectations. "Medicare Advantage is performing as expected, and we are excited about our progress in expanding CenterWell and Medicaid,' Humana president and CEO Jim Rechtin said in a statement. Humana is one of the larger Medicare Advantage providers, and its quarterly report has been on investors' watchlist after UnitedHealth Group's (UNH) earnings miss earlier this month, which was in part related to higher costs in its Medicare Advantage book than expected. That impacted Humana's stock as well, which sank more than 12% on April 17. It did not fully recover from that and was up only about 6% at the end of trading on Tuesday. Humana has also faced other headwinds in its Medicare Advantage business, including losing the most star ratings among its peers this year. This means it will get lower revenue from Medicare payments and will likely see a loss of members as the plans' ratings go down. Humana has about 18% of the Medicare Advantage market, while UnitedHealth boasts 29%. The third largest is CVS (CVS) at 12%, with its Medicare Advantage plans under Aetna. CVS reports earnings on May 1. The company is focused on expanding CenterWell, its health services and mail-order pharmacy business unit. Humana said NovoCare, the online pharmacy for Novo Nordisk (NVO), was chosen as part of Novo's latest effort to dispense the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy directly to cash-paying patients. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pfizer reports mixed results in first quarter earnings, reiterates 2025 outlook
Pfizer (PFE) reported mixed first quarter earnings Tuesday, as the company focuses on gaining investor interest in its near-term pipeline amid a volatile macro environment in the markets. Pfizer reported adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.92, beating Wall Street expectations of $0.66 per share. Revenue came in at $13.7 billion, compared to the consensus of $14 billion. The stock was up less than 1% in premarket trading on Tuesday. Read more about Pfizer's stock moves and today's market action. "We continued to execute with focus and discipline against our strategic priorities, including strengthening our R&D organization and driving improved productivity. With the underlying strength of our business, we believe we can be agile in navigating an uncertain and volatile external environment," CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement Tuesday. The company previously signaled savings of $6 billion through cost-cutting, and increased that to $7.7 billion Tuesday. Pfizer is one of the large-cap pharma companies in focus for investors as it faces patent cliffs for top blockbusters by the end of the decade. Investors have been waiting and watching as COVID-19 revenues wane for the company to right-size operations and find new products in its pipeline — both internal and acquired — to fill a $17 billion revenue hole. Bourla has previously said his recent flurry of deals, including the $43 billion for Seagen and its oncology pipeline, were executed to fill that revenue hole. One drug alone, Padcev, is expected to add $3.1 billion annually. In 2024, it contributed $1.6 billion. One hope had been the company's entry into the obesity space, dominated by Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO). Pfizer had been viewed as one of the key contenders in the near term for Lilly and its oral version of the weight-loss drugs, which are currently in injectable form. But this month, Pfizer had to halt its late-stage trial due to a liver injury in one patient. Pfizer reaffirmed its 2025 outlook of $61 to $64 billion in revenue and adjusted earnings per share of $2.80 to $3. Anjalee Khemlani is the senior health reporter at Yahoo Finance, covering all things pharma, insurance, care services, digital health, PBMs, and health policy and politics. That includes GLP-1s, of course. Follow Anjalee as AnjKhem on social media platforms X, LinkedIn, and Bluesky @AnjKhem. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest health industry news and events impacting stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
