This week, Eli Lilly LLY announced that it is increasing its manufacturing capacity in the United States by building four new plants. AstraZeneca’s AZN phase III study on breast cancer candidate, camizestrant, meets its primary endpoint. The FDA granted priority review to a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) seeking approval for expanded use of Merck’s MRK blockbuster drug, Keytruda, in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSC).

Here's a recap of the week’s most important stories.

LLY to Invest $27B to Expand U.S. Manufacturing Sites

Lilly announced plans to invest $27 billion to build four new manufacturing sites in the United States in 2025, which will bring its total domestic manufacturing expansion commitments since 2020 to more than $50 billion. Previously, from 2020 to 2024, Lilly committed more than $23 billion for domestic capital expansion. The increased manufacturing investment can boost production capacity for its medicines, particularly its popular GLP-1 products, Mounjaro and Zepbound.

However, the company did not announce the site locations. The announcement came after last week’s reports that Trump plans to impose tariffs on imports of pharmaceutical products in a bid to encourage domestic production. The four new sites are expected to add more than 3000 highly skilled jobs and over 10,000 construction jobs in the United States.

Lilly announced that it is reducing the prices of its 7.5 mg and 10 mg single-dose vials of Zepbound to $499 per month for customers paying through a new self-pay program called LillyDirect Self-Pay Pharmacy Solutions. The 7.5 mg and 10 mg vials are currently priced at $599 and $699, respectively. Prices of 2.5 mg and 5 mg vials are also being reduced to $349 and $499 per month, respectively.

AZN’s Breast Cancer Study on Camizestrant Meets PFS Goal

AstraZeneca announced that its pipeline candidate, camizestrant, demonstrated a highly statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in the primary endpoint of progression-free survival in the SERENA-6 phase III study. The study evaluated camizestrant in combination with any one of the widely approved CDK4/6 inhibitors, palbociclib, ribociclib or abemaciclib, for the first-line treatment of patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer whose tumors develop ESR1 mutations. The study evaluated switching to the camizestrant combination versus continuing the standard-of-care combination of an aromatase inhibitor (AI) (anastrozole or letrozole) plus a CDK4/6 inhibitor. 

Camizestrant is a next-generation oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) and complete ER antagonist.  

The study’s key secondary endpoints were time to second disease progression (PFS2) and overall survival (OS). The secondary endpoints were immature at the time of this interim analysis. However, an improving trend in PFS2 was observed for the camizestrant combination arm. The study will continue to assess the secondary endpoints.

FDA’s Priority Tag to MRK’s Keytruda sBLA in Head & Neck Cancer

The FDA granted priority review to a supplemental biologics license application (sBLA) seeking approval of Keytruda plus standard of care as perioperative treatment for resectable locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The sBLA is based on data from the KEYNOTE-689 study. The FDA’s decision on the sBLA is expected on June 23, 2025. In HNSCC, Keytruda is approved as monotherapy and in combination regimens for metastatic or with unresectable, recurrent HNSCC in several countries, including the United States and the EU.

AstraZeneca and Lilly carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) each, while Merck has a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical Index rose 2.8% in the past five trading sessions.

Large Cap Pharmaceuticals Industry 5YR % Return

Large Cap Pharmaceuticals Industry 5YR % Return

Here’s how the eight major stocks performed in the previous five trading sessions.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

In the last five trading sessions, Novo Nordisk rose the most (6.5%), while Pfizer gained the least (0.7%).

In the past six months, all the stocks were in the red except AbbVie, which rose 5.0%. Novo Nordisk declined the most (35.1%).

(See the last pharma stock roundup here: EU Nod to MRK’s Welireg, IONS’ Q4 Results & More)

What's Next in the Pharma World?

Watch this space for regular pipeline and regulatory updates next week.

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