Why Wall Street is chasing Ozempic wannabes
Gilead Sciences, a biotech company focused on treatments for cancer and HIV, isn’t pitching itself as an obesity drug developer. But that hasn’t stopped some Wall Street analysts from trying to do that on its behalf. Seasoned Jefferies analyst Michael Yee published a market-moving note to investors last week: He dug up recent patents and cross-referenced them with prior data to unearth what looked like the makings of an early-stage metabolic program that could one day become an obesity program.
There was even data on monkeys to back that up, which the company will be presenting at the American Diabetes Association conference starting later this week, according to Yee. Yee’s note sent Gilead shares up 3.6% last Friday, their biggest one-day gain in about a year. But over the next two days, the shares gave it all back, largely thanks to Gilead itself.
The company told analysts its program is focused on treatments for the liver, part of its broader investment in NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis), a metabolic disease that is often caused by obesity. The company also has a midstage study evaluating potential combinations with a GLP-1 drug for the treatment of NASH, according to a spokesperson. Yee noted last week that this doesn’t rule out a focus on “obesity in a NASH metabolic frame." Either way, Gilead’s studies are at a very early stage and the obesity space is going to be very competitive as several pharma and biotech companies jump in.
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