Obesity Stole The Q3 Show

Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy/Ozempic and Lilly’s Mounjaro were third quarter standouts, but the exploding obesity category was a theme across many of the big pharma company earnings calls.

Weight loss
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Excitement over the potentially broad health benefits of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists and other new mechanisms for obesity and cardiovascular/metabolic conditions is spreading across the sector. The topic dominated the third quarter conference calls of the two market leaders in the therapeutic area, Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly and Company, but obesity was also a hot topic of discussion during investor calls by Pfizer Inc., Amgen, Inc. and AstraZeneca PLC, companies that are all vying to get into the lucrative market.

Altogether, it was a relatively quiet third quarter sales and earnings period for the top pharmaceutical manufacturers with no surprise...

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