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Amgen lifted its full-year guidance on Tuesday after reporting an uptick in second-quarter sales that beat analyst expectations. Carried by 26% growth across its six key growth drivers — which represented nearly 70% of its product sales for the three-month period — Amgen said its total revenues climbed 10% year-over-year to $10.1 billion, topping estimates of $9.4 billion. The company's second-quarter adjusted earnings of $6.29 per share also blew past expectations of $5.62, an increase of 4% from the year-ago period.Its top-performing product was cholesterol-lowering drug Repatha. The injectable PCSK9 inhibitor raked in $953 million in sales for the quarter, a jump of 37% compared to the year-ago period to come out ahead of the Street's sales prediction of $916 million.Primarily used in the secondary cardiovascular prevention setting to lower risk in individuals with a history of heart attack, stroke or other cardiac events, Repatha gained an expanded drug label last year to cover primary prevention (see – ViewPoints: Repatha poised for major step-up in primary prevention use).But despite the rosy financial print, Repatha is now facing down competition in the form of Lipfendra, an oral PCSK9 inhibitor from Merck & Co. that will cost roughly half as much as the incumbent injectable. Approved by the FDA last month to lower LDL cholesterol, doctors are already eager to start prescribing Lipfendra. A recent FirstWord poll showed 38% of physicians would definitely prescribe it, with 43% reporting they probably would. As for switching from injectables, 21% expressed certainty that they would, while 43% said it was probable (see – Physician Views Results: Prescribers are ready to embrace Merck & Co.'s oral PCSK9 and Spotlight On: Updated Physician Views poll data shows particularly strong support for Merck & Co.'s Lipfendra from US cardiologists).However, Amgen management didn't seem phased by Lipfendra's potential to steal market share away from Repatha, based on comments made during the company's call with investors on Tuesday. "Obviously the two labels really just don't compare," said Murdo Gordon, Amgen's EVP, global markets and policy. He noted that Repatha has a "broad label that includes primary and secondary prevention…[and] can be used as monotherapy or in combination with statins," with 10 years of real-word evidence backing the injectable's use. "The data behind Repatha are unrivalled. It is the category leader," he added. He also emphasised that "oral versus injectable is too simplistic a comparison," given there are many patients who are still not at their LDL cholesterol goal. "You really have to look at, 'Why do you take an LDL cholesterol medicine in the first place, and is it to prevent a first or second heart attack?' And we've demonstrated that with very clear evidence for Repatha."Other growth driversIn addition to Repatha, Amgen highlighted osteoporosis treatment Evenity and asthma drug Tezspire as key growth drivers. Second-quarter sales of the former rose 38% year-over-year to $714 million, beating estimates of $645 million, while the latter brought in $486 million in revenues, representing a 42% jump compared with the same period in 2025. Given the increase in sales, Amgen raised its full-year outlook for 2026. It now expects adjusted earnings of $22.30 to $23.50 per share on revenues in the range of $38.2 billion to $39.4 billion, up from an earlier projection that adjusted earnings would come in between $21.70 to $23.10 per share on revenues of $37.1 billion to $38.5 ​billion. Based on the midpoint of its updated guidance, Amgen is now estimating $1 billion more in revenues for the year. Obesity candidate cutWhile Amgen didn't share any new data for its obesity hopeful MariTide, it did note that the GLP-1 agonist/GIP antagonist is now its only clinical asset in development for weight loss — as it has axed its only other programme in the category.The drugmaker said it is discontinuing development of AMG 513, which is in Phase I study involving adults with obesity. The early-stage candidate's mechanism was never disclosed."The bar is high at Amgen for obesity medicines," said Jay Bradner, Amgen's EVP of R&D. "Our next generation of differentiated preclinical programmes continues to progress, featuring both incretin and non-incretin mechanisms of action."

With quarterly earnings underway, BioPharma Dive is providing a snapshot of some companies results and how theyre being received by investors. Today, were offering insight into the latest numbers from Gilead, Pfizer and Merck & Co.Gileads uncertain growth prospectsGilead Sciences has spent tens of billions of dollars on deals hoping to show it can rely on more than its bread-and-butter HIV medicines to grow sales. But that business still accounts for the bulk of Gileads revenue, and is the focus of a debate among analysts tracking the company.Gilead reported $7.6 billion in overall product sales in the second quarter, an 8% increase from the same period a year ago. Its two top HIV products, Biktarvy and Descovy, handily beat Wall Street projections to generate $5.7 billion combined. A third closely watched by investors, Yeztugo, hit $232 million, in-line with expectations and putting the drug on track to hit Gileads $1 billion projection this year. The company now believes overall HIV sales should grow anywhere from 9% to 10% in 2026, versus 8% previously.To some analysts, those numbers calmed lingering fears about Gileads HIV franchise as well as the sales prospects of Yeztugo, a twice-yearly preventive shot thats been hailed as a medical breakthrough. The market for HIV drugs has become increasingly fragmented and could be even more so in the future, with the arrival of newer options to switch from one treatment to another. But Gileads strong operational performance gives it a higher base with which to weather any coming erosion, wrote RBC Capital Markets Brian Abrahams.The quarter was emblematic of the good old days for Gilead, Abrahams wrote. There was plenty to like.Mizuho Securities Salim Syed added that, importantly, more than 70% of those who received a first Yeztugo injection returned for a second one six months later. Gilead claimed that figure was well above whats seen with other options in the pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, market currently dominated by pills. And thats arguably the most important metric in Gileads results, indicating Yeztugos total market opportunity could be much larger than the $6.7 billion-in-yearly-sales consensus, Syed wrote.Others arent convinced. To Leerink Partners analyst Daina Graybosch, there were several uncertain Yeztugo signals in Gileads presentation. Gilead reiterated, rather than boosted, the drugs 2026 sales predictions. Prescription trends from the analytics firm Iqvia suggest growth is slowing. Executives estimated Tuesday that 80% to 85% of the PrEP market prefers to stay on oral medications. Additionally, the path to double-digit growth likely runs through communities with historically low PrEP use, are hard to acquire and are less likely to stay on treatment, Graybosch wrote.We suspect these early adopters in this dataset are likely to be highly persistent patients who actively sought out Yeztugo, she added, noting her team sees meaningful risk of return rate degradation. Ben Fidler Pfizers narrative shiftPfizer has been trying to reinvent itself in the wake of a sharp revenue decline thats left its share price well below the heights reached during the coronavirus pandemic.Plunging sales of the COVID vaccine Comirnaty and antiviral treatment Paxlovid have been followed by multiple big acquisition bets. A $43 billion buyout of Seagen was designed to solidify Pfizers oncology prospects, while a $10 billion purchase of Metsera gave the company a crack at the lucrative obesity drug market. Pfizer has trimmed spending along the way, too, hiking more than once most recently on Tuesday an initiative expected to shed a total of $6.7 billion in expenses.The returns on that strategy are unclear. Pfizer boosted its revenue guidance by $500 million on Tuesday thanks to stronger-than-expected sales that topped Wall Street analysts expectations. But while a Seagen-acquired drug, Padcev, was a key contributor, some of the products leading the charge among them Eliquis and Vyndamax are facing near-term patent expirations. Pfizer also recorded a $3.8 billion impairment charge after another Seagen therapy failed a lung cancer trial. It wrote down another $525 million from a sickle cell drug it no longer sells. Analysts are unsure whether Metseras drugs will stand out in a tough field, too.“The quarter was solid, and the additional cost savings were welcomed,“ wrote RBC analyst Trung Huynh. But “We see Pfizer as a 'show me' dynamic.“One coming study could help shift investor sentiment. An experimental prostate cancer drug dubbed mevrometostat is now in a trio of Phase 3 trials, and the first is expected to report results in the fourth quarter. Pfizer posted encouraging data from an early study comparing a combination of the drug and the widely used therapy Xtandi to Xtandi alone. Its hoping those findings will carry forward to the ongoing study, which is testing mevrometostat and Xtandi against Xtandi or chemotherapy in metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer.On an earnings call, Chief Scientific Officer Chris Boshoff claimed the treatment could be a potential breakthrough therapy in prostate cancer. Pfizers hoping mevrometostat will prove clearly superior Xtandi, which is associated with delaying tumor progression for five to eight months. Billions of dollars could be riding on the results, as Pfizer has full rights to mevrometostat, whereas it co-markets Xtandi with Astellas Pharma.That study is the biggest among a few readouts that could determine whether [Pfizer] returns to a growth narrative or remains anchored as a restructuring story, RBCs Huynh wrote. Delilah Alvarado Mercks PCSK9 pill predictionsMerck & Co. is adamant it ran reach $70 billion in annual sales despite the upcoming patent loss for its top seller Keytruda.Like many of its biopharmaceutical peers, Merck is leaning on a mix of dealmaking and internal research to absorb the hit. The company showcased its progress in an earnings report on Tuesday.Sales of a subcutaneous version of Keytruda, called Keytruda Qlex, grew from $128 million in the first quarter to $463 million between April and June, surpassing investor expectations. Three medicines it acquired in deals Welireg, Winrevair and Ohtuvayre either met or exceeded Wall Street projections, too.Elsewhere, a China-licensed antibody-drug candidate has shown enough promise to become one of its cornerstone pipeline prospects. And Lipfendra, a cholesterol-lowering pill aimed at the protein PCSK9, won a speedy approval from U.S. regulators.But some stumbles elsewhere spurred questions from industry watchers. A key drug the company gained from its nearly $11 billion buyout of Prometheus Biosciences succeeded in one Phase 2 study but failed in another, seeding doubt about an ongoing Phase 3 trial in Crohns disease. Merck is continuing a closely watched study of a preventative influenza medication through a second flu season, too, suggesting the treatment benefit might be weaker than expected, Leerinks Graybosch wrote.Additionally, RBCs Huynh pointed out that Merck appears to already be walking down sales of Lipfendra, which it priced strategically in a bid to gain broader market share from injectables. Huynh predicted Lipfendras 2026 sales would be negligible. Graybosch, meanwhile, anticipates faster uptake than whats been historically seen with PCSK9 drugs. Shes estimating that the drug hits $476 million in 2027.On a conference call, CEO Rob Davis told investors that it will take time to get access established and that the pace wont be fast out of the gate.Still, we continue to expect to see this to be definitely a blockbuster opportunity, he added. Delilah Alvarado '