NEW YORK – Amgen Inc. gained 2.94% to close at $390.02 on Wednesday, September 3, 2026, standing among the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s strongest performers as the broader index recovered 295 points to 53,061.95. Dow peers moved in different directions that session: American Express rose 1.84% on premium card spending strength, while Amazon fell 2.32% on retail slowdown concerns. The move reflected sustained confidence in a company that has converted its traditional dominance in oncology and inflammation into a credible position in the obesity drug market that is reshaping pharmaceutical valuations across the sector.
The number that matters most for Amgen in 2026 is not an EPS figure; it is a clinical trial count. The company has nine active Phase 3 studies of MariTide, its GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist candidate for chronic weight management, with three additional Phase 3 studies planned. That is not a pipeline for a company hedging its bets in obesity; it is a bet-the-vertical commitment that matches the clinical ambition of Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide program and positions Amgen as a credible second-generation contender in a market that already generates tens of billions of dollars annually and is still in its early growth phase.
The clinical rationale for that confidence is Phase 2 data showing MariTide produced approximately 20% average weight loss over 52 weeks in adults with obesity or overweight without Type 2 diabetes, without reaching a weight loss plateau at the end of the study period. That last detail is strategically significant. The plateau problem in first-generation GLP-1 drugs is well documented: patients achieve maximal weight loss, then plateau, then face the question of whether indefinite treatment is warranted. A drug that has not plateaued at 52 weeks either has a genuinely superior mechanism or simply needs more time in the study to show its ceiling. Either possibility is worth pricing in at the current stage.
MariTide’s Phase 3 program, the MARITIME studies, covers obesity without diabetes, obesity with Type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular outcomes, and heart failure patients. The breadth of the program signals that Amgen intends to compete across the full spectrum of obesity-related indications rather than carving out a niche. That ambition is what the market is paying for.
The business backing the pipeline is performing well. Amgen’s second-quarter 2026 results, reported in early August, showed total revenues exceeding $10 billion, a gain of 10% year over year. Six growth drivers, including established franchises in inflammation and oncology, delivered double-digit sales growth, as did 22 individual products across the portfolio. Management raised the midpoint of full-year revenue guidance to $38.8 billion and lifted the non-GAAP earnings-per-share guidance midpoint by $0.50 to $22.90.
The breadth of the earnings beat is worth noting. Amgen is not a one-product story riding a single drug to growth; it is a portfolio company where Enbrel’s gradual decline has been more than offset by Repatha in cardiovascular disease, Otezla in dermatology, and newer oncology entrants. That diversification means MariTide’s clinical trajectory does not have to succeed to justify the current stock price; it is optionality on top of a business that is already generating $38 billion in annualized revenue.
At $390.02, Amgen trades at roughly 17 times forward non-GAAP earnings, a multiple that reflects the obesity optionality but does not yet fully price a MariTide approval. The market appears to be taking the position that a drug with Phase 2 weight loss data and nine Phase 3 studies running deserves a premium over traditional large-cap biotech multiples, but not the same premium as Eli Lilly, which has an approved and marketed obesity product with established commercial infrastructure.
The gap between those two valuations is where the investment thesis lives. If the MARITIME studies confirm the Phase 2 efficacy and MariTide clears the FDA, the multiple expansion from that event alone would be substantial. If the Phase 3 data disappoints, the business underneath still generates enough cash to sustain the dividend and fund continued pipeline development without strategic distress.
What the market cannot yet know is whether MariTide’s 20% weight loss figure holds in the larger and more heterogeneous Phase 3 patient populations. That answer is still years away. For now, the market is pricing the probability, not the certainty.
