Investors seeking the next obesity-like market opportunity will be closely watching developments related to treatments for Alzheimer’s disease in 2025. “The opportunity remains huge,” said Chris Eccles, a portfolio manager at AXA Investment Managers. “If we get a strong disease-modifying drug and very positive clinical trials, numbers can go back in models and forecasts can be revised upwards quite significantly, quite quickly.”
Here are some of the stocks to watch in 2025:
1. 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.
Another related stock to watch is Sweden’s BioArctic AB, which discovered Leqembi and is entitled to royalties for the drug. The shares have surged more than eightfold since going public in 2017, but have struggled in recent years amid a challenging launch for the treatment.
2. Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly’s Kisunla treatment received FDA clearance in July 2024, and investors will get more of an indication in the coming year about how adoption of the drug will fare against Leqembi. The company is also evaluating a follow-on drug, known as remternetug, via injection as well as infusion. The late-stage trial will assess the formulations for amyloid plaque clearance and safety, which could signal whether remternetug will be a better treatment option than Kisunla. Trial results for remternetug could be released at the end of this year or early 2026.
3. Novo Nordisk
A study last year indicated that patients taking semaglutide were at significantly reduced risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Novo Nordisk 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.
4. Roche
Roche has completed the first part of an early-stage study for trontinemab, a drug designed to clear amyloid which deploys a brain shuttle technology to slip past the protective blood-brain barrier. The company is awaiting more data before deciding whether to proceed with late-stage trials, and UBS Group AG analyst Colin White sees this data potentially being available in the first half. 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
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Source: Bloomberg