It's a race to the riches in the anti-obesity drug market. This therapeutic area is projected to grow exponentially in the coming years. Novo Nordisk is one of the clear market leaders -- for now -- thanks to its now-famous therapy, Wegovy. However, several companies have promising pipeline candidates they hope will eventually challenge Wegovy.

One of them is (NASDAQ: AMGN), one of the largest biotechs in the world. Amgen recently announced some news regarding its weight-loss pipeline, including the leading candidate therein. Let's find out what investors should make of these developments.

Amgen has talked about two notable weight-loss candidates in recent quarters. One of them is MariTide, which is currently in a phase 2 study. The other, AMG786, was undergoing a phase 1 clinical trial. During its first-quarter earnings conference call, Amgen said it would no longer pursue the development of AMG786. That's a bit of a setback for the drugmaker, but it is still going after the more promising of the two, MariTide.

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Source Fool.com