The golden grape for weight loss drugs is here. These 3 latecomers may be worth a buy.

Eli Lilly AND Novo Nordisk are, by far, the kings of the weight loss gold rush. Thanks to their medicines, Zepbound and Wegovy, billions in new revenue streams have been secured in the near term.

But these two cheaters aren’t the only competitors looking to get a piece of the action — they’re just the first. Three aspirants are rare to go, and they may even be able to take the crown one day. Let’s take a look at each to see if any of them are right for your wallet.

1. Amgen

Among others, Amgen (AMGN 0.35%) is known for its collection of antibody therapies, many of which are indicated for the treatment of various cancers. Now, she’s putting that expertise to use with biologics with her unique program that targets obesity.

Amgen’s candidate, MariTide, is an important contender because early-stage clinical trial data suggest it can induce weight loss much faster than entries from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. While Zepbound and Wegovy both needed a full year of treatment to help patients shed up to 21% of their body weight, in its phase 1 study, patients taking MariTide experienced a 14.5% mass loss theirs in a little less than three months.

Now, MariTide is in phase 2 testing, with management already setting the stage for a quick transition to phase 3 trials as soon as possible. Data from the phase 2 study are expected later this year. Expect the stock to see a healthy rally if the mid-term results look as favorable as the previous ones, and don’t be afraid to invest before reading the data.

Amgen is an established big pharma company with a massive pipeline and many avenues for growth outside of obesity, so a future win in that segment would just be icing on the cake.

2. AstraZeneca

AstraZenecaS ‘ (AZN 1.31%) The obesity drug pipeline has three programs, all of which are in phase 1 clinical trials. But investing in the weight loss and cardiometabolic therapies space is one of the company’s priorities, according to its strategic plan with a deadline of 2030. So it’s likely that over the next year or so it will open some more programs or get them from other biopharmas.

In addition to its clinical programs, in late May AstraZeneca pledged to pay up to $80 million in milestone payments and royalties to a biotech called SixPeaks Bio in exchange for the right to acquire it if its obesity candidate in pre-test clinical ever comes close to being. approved to enter the clinic with human patients.

The advantage of SixPeaks’ approach is that it can result in less muscle loss than therapies produced by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. At this time, these benefits have not been proven, and the company has not released much about the data from its clinical-stage programs.

Therefore, the stock is not yet worth buying based on the company’s obesity drug development activities alone, although there are still many other reasons, such as its ambitious 2030 plan, that make it an attractive buy.

3. Viking Therapeutics

Viking Therapeutics (VKTX -0.27%) it’s a biotech company, not a pharmaceutical company, so it’s much smaller than Amgen and AstraZeneca, and it’s still working on getting its first drug approved for sale.

On that front, its lead candidate, VK2735, just completed phase 2 clinical trials, and it’s a winner. After just 13 weeks of treatment, patients in the trial who received VK2735 instead of a placebo lost 14.7% of their body weight, while patients on placebo lost only 1.6%. That puts its efficacy about the same as Amgen’s candidate, meaning it also has a real shot at proving to be much more effective than Wegovy or Zepbound.

Viking also has another clinical-stage program testing VK2735 in pill form rather than as an injection. The data available so far show that it is close to being as effective as the injected version, although a future phase 2 trial is still needed to make this comparison with confidence.

Overall, Viking is a significantly riskier choice than the other two businesses I’ve discussed so far. It has no income to keep it afloat, although its $963 million worth of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments will probably be enough for the short term. Based on the releases so far, it’s worth buying, just accept that if future data refutes past findings, it will be a disaster for the stock.