AstraZeneca's Bold Move: $2 Billion Bet on Weight-Loss Drugs
AstraZeneca plans to spend up to $2.01 billion to license an experimental weight-loss drug from Eccogene, boosting its efforts in the GLP-1 market. The drug, ECC5004, is being tested for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic conditions. AstraZeneca will pay Eccogene $185 million upfront and up to $1.825 billion in future milestones. The company reported mixed third-quarter results, with sales of $11.49 billion, a 4% increase, and profit of 89 cents per share, a 16% decline. AstraZeneca raised its sales and core earnings outlook, expecting a mid-single-digit percentage increase in revenue and a low double-digit and low-teens percentage increase in core earnings.