Amgen Gives Update Regarding Drug Trials

RBC Capital Markets issued a report on Amgen, Inc. AMGN after the company presented at the ACC conference. The firm believes that Amgen might have meaningful upside if it is able to get an injunction vs. competitors this summer due to very low expectations.

At the conference, Amgen senior management emphasized four key points:

• 1. The confidence interval for CV outcomes was wide and a 50 percent reduction is hard to estimate thus far in the trials.
• 2. Outcomes data will be released no later than 2017.
• 3. Amgen's anatomical plaque changes in the arteries study will take place in 2016 and should raise conviction levels for cardiologists and lipidologists on why the PCSK-9 class significantly improves plaque burden.
• 4. There are two unknown risk factors for CET-P inhibitors. First, what happens when you affect the particle size with this intervention and how that will translate to outcomes. Second, there needs to be a strong risk/benefit profile as there is a safety risk. PCSK-9 has set the bar very high as of now.

Shares of Amgen closed Monday at $163.03.