Cathie Wood's Ark Invest Snaps Up $3.54M Worth Of Shares In This Biopharma Company Following Positive Obesity Pipeline Update

Cathie Wood-run Ark Invest on Friday picked up shares of a biopharma company after it revealed significant progress with its weight-loss drug candidate.

What Happened: Ark, through its ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (CBOE: ARKG), bought 11,360 shares of Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), which rallied nearly 12% on Friday. The purchase would have been worth $3.54 million.

Following Friday’s purchase, Amgen’s weighting in ARKG stood at 1.06%, attributed to the 51,712 shares held by the exchange-traded fund.

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Why It’s Important: Amgen reported a double beat Thursday after the market close and offered an update on its obesity drug pipeline. While pulling the plug on an early-stage oral obesity drug, codenamed “AMG 786,” the company said it was “differentially investing” in MariTide and a number of preclinical assets.

MariTide, formerly AMG 133, is an injectable form of a drug targeting two gut hormones — gastric inhibitory polypeptide receptor, or GIP, and glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1. It is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 obesity trial.

“We're seeing a differentiated profile of MariTide and are confident that it will address important unmet medical needs, obesity, obesity-related conditions, and diabetes,” said Chief Scientific Officer Jay Bradner.

The top-line 52-week data from the 11-arm Phase 2 study is on track for a readout in late 2024, the company said.

The weight-loss drug market is estimated at a staggering $100 billion, with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly currently dominating the segment.

ARKG closed Friday’s session up 3.51% at $25.04, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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