Nektar TherapeuticsNKTR
▼ NegativeRegulationrelevance
Nektar shares fell 11% as the jury deliberates in its Rezpeg patent dispute with Eli Lilly, with questions about low/no damages.
Impact on assets 2
Biotech & Genomic Medicine▼ · 2 stocks
Nektar Therapeutics
Eli Lilly and CompanyLLY
± MixedRegulationrelevance
Eli Lilly is the opposing party in the Rezpeg patent dispute; jury deliberation outcome is uncertain for Lilly.
Theme Impact 1
Off-coverage companies
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Roche's Enicepatide Hits Both Phase II Endpoints in Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity
Roche reported encouraging top-line results from a mid-stage study of enicepatide, its investigational once-weekly dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist, in adults with type 2 diabetes and overweight or obesity. In the 447-patient phase II CT-388-104 study, enicepatide met both primary endpoints at 48 weeks, delivering dose-dependent reductions in HbA1c and body weight. At the highest titrated dose of 24 mg, enicepatide reduced HbA1c by 2.65% from a baseline of 8.1%, with about 90% of patients achieving an HbA1c of 6.5% or lower and 62% reaching normoglycemia below 5.7%, while mean body-weight loss was 15.5% at 48 weeks with no evidence of a plateau. In patients with poor baseline glycemic control above 8.5%, the 24 mg dose led to an HbA1c reduction of 4.13% at 48 weeks, and the drug was generally well tolerated with discontinuations due to adverse events of 2.0% in the enicepatide groups versus 0% for placebo. Roche is advancing two ongoing phase III studies in chronic weight management, ENITH-1 and ENITH-2, and plans to initiate a phase III glycemic-control program and cardiovascular outcomes trials in the first half of 2027. Separately, Roche announced that the European Commission has approved Susvimo, a ranibizumab 100 mg/mL solution for injection, for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration, making it the first and only continuous-delivery treatment approved for nAMD in Europe.
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AstraZeneca and GSK Warn Europe's Drug Industry Is 'At Risk'
AstraZeneca and GSK have joined European rivals Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, Roche and Novartis in an open letter warning that Europe's pharmaceutical industry is "losing ground to global competition" and faces a "slow agony" of decline without urgent action. The executives, including AstraZeneca chairman Michel Demaré and GSK chairman Sir Jonathan Symonds, said Europe's share of global pharmaceutical research and development has fallen from 43pc in 1990 to 31pc today, while China has overtaken Europe in clinical trials, pharmaceutical patents and new medicine development. The letter warned that up to 40pc of newly approved therapies never reach European patients, and that patients wait nearly 600 days for drugs that do arrive, putting Europe's €220bn trade surplus in drugs at risk. Closing the gap in clinical trials would unlock up to €53bn alone and create 82,000 jobs, the letter added. The intervention comes amid a broader dispute over European incentives for life-sciences investment, after US President Donald Trump accused Europe of "freeloading" on the American drug industry and threatened tariffs, prompting cuts to NHS rebate rates that added billions of pounds in costs to the taxpayer; AstraZeneca has separately announced plans to invest $50bn in the US and completed a direct listing there earlier this year.
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Viking Therapeutics Jumps 26% on Positive VK2735 Maintenance Dosing Data
Viking Therapeutics surged 26.5% to $38.08 as of 11:42 a.m. ET on September 22, 2026, after reporting positive topline results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled maintenance dosing study of its lead GLP-1/GIP agonist VK2735 in adults with obesity. The trial used weekly subcutaneous induction dosing followed by less frequent maintenance regimens, including every-other-week and monthly schedules, which CEO Brian Lian said in July was designed to explore various maintenance regimens. Viking framed the data as validating multiple maintenance schedules, a commercially significant finding because patient adherence is a well-known weakness of injectable GLP-1s, though the company-reported topline results have not yet undergone peer review or regulatory review. Prior Phase 2 work set the bar, with VENTURE showing up to 14.7% mean body weight reduction after 13 weekly subcutaneous doses and VENTURE-Oral delivering up to 12.2% at 13 weeks, with up to 80% of subjects reaching at least 10% weight loss. The rest of the obesity complex barely moved, with Structure Therapeutics down 0.7% at $36.56, Eli Lilly up 1.1% at $1,177.43, and Novo Nordisk down 0.7% at $39.54, as traders read the news as company-specific validation rather than a sector-wide catalyst. Viking holds $502 million in cash at quarter end and both VANQUISH-1 and VANQUISH-2 fully enrolled, giving it leverage to operate on its own timeline, and Lian has said oral VK2735 Phase 3 initiation is expected in Q4 2026.