AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN) shed £15 billion in value on Tuesday following early data on its weight loss drugs and reports that dozens of executives in China had been implicated in an insurance fraud case.
Shares fell by 8.6% on Tuesday, taking the pharmaceutical firm’s market capitalisation from £171.2 billion to £156.2 billion.
AstraZeneca revealed early data for its prospective weight loss drug at the ObesityWeek 2024 meeting in San Antonio, Texas on Monday.
Deutsche Bank reiterated a ‘sell’ rating following the update, noting the GLP-1 data “was somewhat underwhelming”.
Lead drug AZD5004 had shown weight loss of 5.8% with no serious side effects over four weeks in type two diabetes patients.
Gastrointestinal toxicities were found to become increasingly common among patients taking higher doses of the oral treatment though.
“Most key details are missing so it's hard to say much at present, though the few initial details lead towards being neutral,” Deutsche said.
“The data was really too early to make any judgement at all and could certainly see AZN have a role to play,” analysts noted, but adding this would depend on further data expected over the coming years.
A report on Tuesday that several AstraZeneca China executives were implicated in an ongoing insurance fraud case then added further pressures to the shares.
Dozens of senior executives had been implicated in the case as of last week, according to financial media firm Yicai, which was said to be the largest in the country's pharmaceutical sector "for years".