NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 2:56 PM ET — Regular session
- Amgen shares edged lower in afternoon trading as biotech stocks lagged the broader market.
- Partner Verastem said it will discontinue a lung-cancer combo study that used Amgen’s Lumakras.
- Investors are watching for potential year-end updates on Amgen’s MariTide obesity and diabetes program.
Amgen Inc. shares were down 0.4% at $328.32 at 2:56 p.m. ET on Tuesday, after trading between $325.90 and $330.18.
The modest move matters because investors are grading Amgen’s pipeline for new growth while several mature products face price pressure and biosimilar competition. Oncology and obesity remain two key swing factors for the stock heading into 2026.
Biotech stocks lagged, with the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF down about 1.1%, while the healthcare sector ETF was roughly flat and the S&P 500 ETF hovered near unchanged.
Verastem Oncology said it would discontinue its RAMP 203 Phase 1/2 study in advanced KRAS G12C-mutated non-small cell lung cancer, a trial run with Amgen that combined Verastem’s avutometinib with Amgen’s Lumakras (sotorasib), with or without defactinib. In treatment-naïve patients, the doublet showed a 40% overall response rate — the share of patients whose tumors shrank — and median progression-free survival of 11.1 months, Verastem said. “Next generation G12C inhibitors are establishing a new benchmark with higher response rates,” Verastem Chief Medical Officer John Hayslip said. Business Wire
KRAS G12C is a mutation that can drive some lung cancers. Drugmakers test combinations to prolong the benefit of targeted inhibitors and blunt resistance as tumors evolve.
For Amgen, the Verastem decision adds fresh noise around Lumakras, but it does not, by itself, reset the company’s broader oncology outlook. The bigger question for investors is whether Amgen can keep widening the drug’s role as standards of care shift.
Amgen has said it is running Phase 3 trials of Lumakras combinations in colorectal cancer and in first-line KRAS G12C-mutated, PD-L1–negative advanced lung cancer. It also expects fourth-quarter 2025 readouts from two Phase 2 MariTide studies — one in chronic weight management and one in type 2 diabetes — for the experimental obesity drug. MariTide is designed to activate the GLP-1 receptor and block the GIP receptor, pathways used by today’s leading weight-loss medicines.
Any MariTide update would land in a market still dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, where investors have rewarded clear efficacy and tolerability advantages. Amgen’s ability to show durable weight loss with manageable side effects will shape how Wall Street models long-term sales.
Near term, traders are watching for clinical-trial readouts and regulatory milestones that can arrive without warning, especially in thin holiday-week liquidity. The calendar also turns quickly to early-2026 earnings and updated guidance.
Amgen has been steadier than smaller biotech names, but it has not been immune to sector swings. A prolonged risk-off move in biotech can weigh on large caps even without company-specific news.
For now, investors will look for whether Amgen can hold above the day’s low near $326 and regain $330, as they balance incremental oncology headlines against the larger obesity catalyst.
