By Steve Goldstein
Viking Therapeutics’ stock was crushed after a mid-stage trial of its oral weight-loss drug.
Viking Therapeutics Inc. on Tuesday announced that a trial showed its oral weight-loss drug works – and like a larger rival, its stock price immediately suffered.
Viking’s stock (VKTX) dived 40% in early trade.
Eli Lilly & Co. (LLY), which is developing its own weight-loss drug, orforglipron, had seen its stock crater 14% earlier this month when it said the medication resulted in weight loss of up to 12.4%.
San Diego-based Viking said a Phase 2 trial on its VK2735 oral weight-loss drug – of the same class of drugs like Ozempic that mimic the effects of the glucagon-like peptide 1 hormone – resulted in weight loss of up to 12.2%, or 26.6 pounds on average, after 13 weeks of treatment.
That compared with a weight loss of 1.3% for those taking a placebo pill.
At the highest dose, 38% discontinued treatment early, while 18% taking the placebo similarly stopped treatment. Of those taking the pill, 98% of side effects were categorized as mild or moderate in severity.
Evan Seigerman, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets, said investors had expected strong efficacy with a “squeaky clean tolerability profile” but the trial only delivered on effectiveness, due to the rates of treatment discontinuation and vomiting at top dosing.
On a conference call, analysts said they were puzzled by the high discontinuation rate – especially in the placebo group.
“We noted in earlier comments, the placebo rates have escalated a little bit,” said Chief Executive Brian Lian, according to a transcript from S&P Global Market Intelligence. He added, “Everybody knows somebody who’s on a GLP-1 therapy and everybody knows the GI [gastrointestinal] adverse events that are sort of expected from this mechanism.”
-Steve Goldstein
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08-19-25 1002ET
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