Health-care companies rose, but not by as much as the broad market, after a major setback for one entrant in the race to launch an effective weight-loss pill.
Pfizer shares tumbled after the Big Pharma company said it would not move to a Phase 3 trial of a twice-daily formulation of a weight-loss drug after patients in an earlier study had a lot of side effects. Shares of the company dropped to levels not seen since before the pandemic, during which it launched a blockbuster Covid 19 vaccine.
Pfizer’s setback with its planned obesity pill has positive implications for Viking Therapeutics, as it’s one of the few remaining companies with a potentially viable oral GLP-1 drug candidates, said analysts at brokerage Truist. Shares of obesity-drug makers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly gave back some of their recent gains.
Write to Rob Curran at [email protected]
Read the full article here