Amgen profit rises, weight-loss data expected in 4th quarter

By Deena Beasley

Aug 5 (Reuters) - Amgen AMGN.O on Tuesday posted quarterly financial results that beat Wall Street expectations as a 9% increase in product sales offset higher operating expenses due in part to development of experimental weight-loss drug MariTide.

The California-based biotech company's second-quarter revenue rose 9% from a year earlier to $9.2 billion. Adjusted earnings per share increased 21% to $6.02.

Analysts had expected an adjusted profit of $5.29 on revenue of $8.94 billion, according to LSEG data.

The "strong quarter for Amgen starts to reshape the narrative for the (company) as we look to the back half of the year," BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman said in a research note.

Shares of Amgen, which closed at $300.08, were down about half a percentage point at $298.50 in extended trading.

Sales of cholesterol-lowering medication Repatha rose 31% to $696 million. Sales of bone drug Prolia fell 4% to $1.1 billion and the company said it expects further erosion this year due to new competition from biosimilars.

Adjusted operating expenses rose 8% from a year earlier, while research and development costs rose 18%.

The company said it expects to have data in the fourth quarter from two key mid-stage MariTide studies. One is testing the drug in obese or overweight adults with or without type 2 diabetes, while the second is looking at MariTide as a treatment for type 2 diabetes.

MariTide is an antibody linked to a pair of peptides that activate receptors for the appetite- and blood sugar-reducing hormone GLP-1 while simultaneously blocking a second gut hormone called GIP.

Several companies are working to develop weight-loss drugs, encouraged by booming demand for current medicines and estimates that sales of obesity treatments could hit $150 billion in the coming years.

For the full year, Amgen slightly raised its financial outlook to adjusted earnings per share of $20.20 to $21.30 on revenue of $35 billion to $36 billion. It had previously forecast earnings of $20.00 to $21.20 per share on revenue of $34.3 billion to $35.7 billion.

Analysts, on average, have estimated 2025 earnings of $20.91 per share on revenue of $35.4 billion.

The company said its 2025 outlook includes the impact of implemented tariffs, but does not account for any future levies, including potential sector-specific tariffs, or pricing actions that could be implemented in the future.

The pharmaceutical industry is facing intense pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to lower prices Americans pay for prescription medicines, while preparing for 15% tariffs on imports from the European Union.

Amgen CEO Robert Bradway, during a conference call with investors, said the company agrees that reform is needed in the U.S. healthcare system, but that it is too early to comment on specific plans. "We expect to work with the administration," he said.