Updated: Viking Therapeutics’ weight-loss drug demonstrates sustained weight reduction effect, shares soar

Updated stock price information, added analyst and executive comments

Padmanabhan Ananthan

Reuters, September 22 - Viking Therapeutics (VKTX.O) announced that patients who switched to a less frequent dosing regimen of its experimental obesity treatment maintained weight loss better than the placebo group in a study, boosting the company’s shares by 30% in early trading.

This result supports the company’s efforts to reduce treatment burden. Viking Therapeutics has been working to develop flexible dosing options for both injectable and oral forms of VK2735, aiming to secure a foothold in this rapidly growing field.

On Tuesday, the company said that patients who switched to a once-every-two-weeks dosing regimen of VK2735 maintained up to 97% of the weight lost during the initial 21-week treatment period; those on a once-a-month dosing regimen retained 90% of their prior weight loss over the following 12 weeks.

Former Obesity Society president Louis Aronne said that reducing the frequency of dosing helps patients stay on weight-loss medications for longer periods.

The obesity market is currently dominated by large pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) and Eli Lilly (LLY.N), which are aggressively competing for market share with effective and convenient therapies, including both injectables and oral medications.

(link) Analysts expect the annual sales of the obesity market to reach 100 billion dollars by 2030.

Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith said these data further confirm VK2735’s differentiated profile and competitive advantage, and noted that the drug’s safety and tolerability were “impressive.”

Viking said that in a small group of subjects who received once-weekly treatment for 33 weeks, patients lost an average of 21.7% of their body weight, and added that it plans to study oral maintenance doses in subsequent trials.

“We believe that long-term weight management will not follow a standard ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” Viking CEO Brian Lian said, adding that patients will need multiple choices throughout their weight loss journey to achieve personalized treatment.

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