Amgen believes that it can transcend the expected tradeoff between convenience and efficacy, anticipating that its investigational obesity drug MariTide will continue to provide competitive weight loss even at monthly or longer schedules.
Even as more and more competitors flood the increasingly crowded obesity space, Amgen believes that its investigational antibody-peptide therapy MariTide can carve out a unique position on the market by offering a more convenient dosing schedule—without sacrificing efficacy.
“MariTide stands alone as the only therapy in late-stage development to offer the paradigm-changing prospect of strong efficacy and favorable tolerability at monthly, every other month or even every quarter dosing,” Amgen CEO Robert Bradway said during the pharma’s full year 2025 earnings call Tuesday afternoon.
Executive Vice President of R&D James Bradner doubled down on this position, when an analyst brought up that more convenient schedules could come at the cost of weaker weight loss outcomes.
“This idea of less frequent dosing being an absolute tradeoff for efficacy—we’re not certain we’ll see that,” Bradner said. Amgen has observed, he added, that a “large majority” of patients were able to maintain their weight on low doses and quarterly dosing.
MariTide is a bispecific antibody-peptide construct that activates the GLP-1 receptor while simultaneously inhibiting the GIP receptor. This mechanism of action, according to Amgen, not only induces weight loss during treatment but also lowers the likelihood of weight regain after dosing ends.
In November 2024, Phase II data for MariTide showed that the drug elicited up to 20% weight loss on average at 52 weeks in patients who were overweight or had obesity. While Amgen at the time touted these results as “robust,” analysts were less impressed.
Despite the underwhelming readout, “MariTide remains the focal point” for Amgen, Truist Securities wrote in a Tuesday note after the company’s investor call. “We view MariTide’s potential for less bi-monthly or quarterly frequent maintenance dosing as a compelling area of further differentiation.”
Additional data remained elusive during Tuesday’s presentation, and the pharma did not provide a specific timeline for when it expects to release these findings. Amgen did say on the call that it has initiated six global Phase III studies for the drug, with more planned this year.
Last year, Amgen’s total revenues surged 10% to hit $36.8 billion, driven primarily by its osteoporosis injection Prolia, which brought in more than $4.4 billion, and the cholesterol medicine Repatha, which earned over $3 billion. Fourteen products, including Tepezza, indicated for thyroid eye disease, and the leukemia drug Blincyto, achieved blockbuster status in 2025.
In 2026, Amgen forecasts revenues from $37 billion to $38.4 billion.
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