(Reuters) – Shares of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk (NYSE:) fell 5.3% on Friday, their biggest one-day drop since August 2022, after rival Amgen (NASDAQ:) said it was encouraged by interim data tests. about an experimental anti-obesity drug.
Shares in Novo Nordisk were last down 4.4% by 1022 GMT, having hit their lowest level in two months earlier in the day.
Amgen said Thursday it is very encouraged by the completion of an interim analysis of its interim study of experimental weight-loss drug MariTide, which if approved would compete with Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s (NYSE:) Zepbound.
“Novo’s share price today certainly takes into account some of the negative reaction to Amgen’s positive comment yesterday on MariTide’s development,” Kepler Cheuvreux analyst David Evans said, but added that “continued negative reaction to the results and pricing concerns yesterday are likely to also is a smaller part of the move today.”
Amgen did not provide any details about the actual data of its study, but competition is in a market estimated to reach $100 billion by the end of the decade, in which Novo Nordisk is currently leading.