VKTX - 4 Stocks That Could Break Novo Nordisk Lilly's Obesity Duopoly | Benzinga
The obesity market has garnered much interest lately, ever since Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) received FDA approval for its obesity drug Wegovy in 2021. It was only after a couple of years that the market gained a second entrant – Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) Zepbound, which received FDA approval last year in November.
Lilly and Novo have been registering top- and bottom-line growth, owing to the vastness of the total market size for obesity. The companies even achieved a market cap north of $500 billion. However, these firms have been unable to cope with existing demand and are facing delays in fulfilling orders amid continued supply constraints and product shortages.
Wall Street anticipates an even bigger market for obesity drugs. Per research conducted by Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), the obesity market in the United States is expected to reach $100 billion by the end of this decade. This is also evident from the fact that Lilly and Novo are not only investing heavily to optimize their production capacities but have also started evaluating multiple other novel obesity candidates in their pipeline.
Anticipating this rising demand, several biotech/pharma companies are developing their obesity drugs with the hope of gaining a small but lucrative share in this growing market. Here, we discuss four biotech/pharma stocks that we believe could break the duopoly in the obesity space in the long run.
Viking Therapeutics
Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX), a clinical-stage biotech, is evaluating both oral and subcutaneous formulations of its obesity drug,VK2735, in early-stage and mid-stage studies, respectively. This investigational drug has blockbuster potential, having demonstrated superior weight reduction capabilities in both clinical studies.
In February, Viking Therapeutics reported that the mid-stage study, which evaluated a subcutaneous formulation of VK2375, achieved its primary and all secondary endpoints with statistical significance. Patients treated with this formulation achieved a mean weight reduction of 14.7% after 13 weeks compared with 1.7% in the placebo group.
In March, Viking reported data from the early-stage study on the oral formulation of the drug, which demonstrated promising dose-dependent reductions in mean body weight ...