Investors looking for the newest market opportunity in the obesity category will be carefully following developments in Alzheimer’s disease treatments in 2025.
Companies including , Biogen Inc.  , and , Eli Lilly &, Co.  , have spent billions of dollars on developing potential treatments, while others including , Novo Diabetes A/S , and , Roche AG  , are also investigating the brain-destroying disease. Any new discoveries in clinical trials or medicine approvals may have a significant impact on share prices as investors take into account possible sales for a business that, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, was reach$ 13 billion by 2030.
” The prospect remains big”, said , Chris Ellis, a portfolio supervisor at , AXA Investment Managers. ” If we get a solid disease-modifying medicine and very positive clinical trials, figures can go back in concepts and prediction can be revised upward quite drastically, quite quickly”.
Companies developing Alzheimer’s drugs have already seen great peaks and troughs. Biogen stock soared 44 % on a single day in , November 2020 , after news that an experimental drug appeared to be effective, before plunging days later after failing to get help from a screen of , Food and Drug Administration , experts. Despite receiving assent the next year, Biogen finally abandoned the drug following years of discussion over its efficacy. Several other drugs have even failed.
In the US, there are presently two of the newest medications that can treat the condition. Lecanemab, from Biogen and Chinese partner , Eisai Co., is sold under the company name Leqembi, and donanemab from Eli , Lilly , is branded as Kisunla. Both medications help to lower the levels of brain amyloid in Alzheimer’s sufferers in the early stages of the disease and slow the progression. They continue to do so even though both procedures have side effects, including brain swelling and bleeding, and they don’t stop or change it.
According to Gregoire Biollaz, older investment manager at Pictet Asset Management, “it could be a time where we also see a little more traction in terms of grip for the medicines that are currently approved.”
What companies should you watch for in 2025?
Biogen and , Eisai
Patients currently on Leqembi take it as an infusion, though Biogen and , Eisai have also developed a version that can be administered at home. In focus for investors in 2025 will be whether the injectable formulation wins regulatory approval, which would mean patients won’t have to travel for treatment.
Sweden’s BioArctic AB, which discovered Leqembi and is entitled to revenues for the medicine, is another stock to watch closely. The shares have increased more than eightfold since going public in 2017, but have struggled in recent years as a result of a difficult start for the care.
Eli Lilly
Investors may receive more information about how Leqembi will fare in the coming year as a result of Eli Lilly’s approval of the Kisunla care in July 2024.
The organization is likewise evaluating a follow-on substance, known as remternetug, via treatment as well as infusion. According to Bloomberg Intelligence analysts, the late-stage demo will examine the amyloid plaque certification and safety practices, which may indicate whether remternetug will be a more effective treatment option than Kisunla. According to BI ‘s , Jean Rivera Irizarry, the test results for Remernetug could be released at the end of this year or in early 2026.
Novo Diabetes
A study last year indicated that patients taking semaglutide were at significantly reduced risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Novo Diabetes is currently testing whether the ingredient — which is in its diabetes and weight-loss drugs — can benefit patients with early Alzheimer’s disease. Late-stage trial results are expected in the second half. Bank of America analysts including Sachin Jain see potential for the stock to rise about 10%-15% if the data is positive, but flagged that it is “high risk.”
Roche
The second phase of an early-stage investigation for trontinemab, a medicine that uses a mind flight systems to slide past the protecting blood-brain barrier, has been completed by Roche. The drug uses a brain shuttle technology to pass through the protective blood-brain barrier. The organization is awaiting more information before deciding whether to deal with late-stage testing, and , UBS Group AG  , analyst , Colin White , sees this information potentially being available in the first quarter. For , Barclays Plc , analyst , Emily Field, it seems “far more likely than not” that Roche will go ahead with more trials. Trontinemab is a newer version of gantenerumab, Roche’s previous big bet on Alzheimer’s that ultimately failed to slow cognitive decline.
UCB
Belgian biotech firm , UCB SA , is expected to decide whether to continue developing bepranemab, though no timeline has been provided. Although the experimental drug slowed cognitive decline and the rate of tau, a protein responsible for tangles in brain cells, was missed by a mid-stage study last year, it revealed that the primary endpoint was the rate of tau accumulation and cognitive decline.  , TD Cowen , analyst , Stacy Ku , noted that bepranemab has a” clean” safety profile that” should allow for combination treatment”.
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