VKTX - Should You Hold Viking Therapeutics in Your Portfolio? | Benzinga
Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX), a clinical-stage company focused on developing novel therapeutics for metabolic and endocrine disorders, has been in the news, owing to updates from its obesity program.
The company, with a market cap of about $8 billion, is developing its lead candidate, VK2735, a dual GLP-1/GIP agonist. The candidate is being developed both as a subcutaneous injection and as an oral pill in a mid-stage study and an early-stage study, respectively.
The investigational drug is expected to reflect blockbuster potential, having demonstrated superior weight reduction capabilities in both clinical studies, coupled with the massive demand for obesity drugs. Biotech firms have been competing fiercely to enter the obesity market due to the huge untapped opportunity it represents amid increasing demand.
In early 2024, Viking Therapeutics reported that the phase II VENTURE 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.
Year to date, shares of VKTX have skyrocketed 289.6% against the industry's 5.7% decline.
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What's particularly impressive is that weight loss in all treated cohorts gradually progressed through 13 weeks and did not show evidence of plateauing.
This suggests that VK2375 has the potential to induce further weight loss over a longer treatment period and at higher doses.
Based on such encouraging results, Viking Therapeutics plans to advance both formulations into further development later this year.
Consequently, the company also reported data from the phase I study evaluating the oral formulation of the drug in March 2024, which demonstrated promising dose-dependent reductions in mean body weight after 28 days of daily dosing.
Patients who received the drug at the highest dose level (i.e., 40mg) lost up to 5.3% of their body weight compared with 2.1% in the placebo group. In fact, 57% ...