The pharmaceutical manufacturer Amgen announced on Tuesday that an experimental obesity drug helped patients lose up to 20 percent of their weight in a year. The drug, MariTide, is given by injection once a month, compared with once a week for other obesity drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound that are already on the market.

Amgen's experimental drug MariTide led to an average weight loss of up to 20% in a year-long mid-stage trial of nearly 600 people who were overweight or obese, the company said on Tuesday.

A highly anticipated obesity-drug candidate from biotech Amgen helped patients shed a significant amount of weight in a midstage study, but fell short of the loftier expectations of some investors. Subjects taking Amgen’s MariTide lost 20% of their body weight compared with those who received placebos,