Viking Therapeutics said on Tuesday its experimental weight-loss pill helped people with obesity lose up to 12.2 percent of their body weight over 13 weeks in a keenly watched study.
Yet, shares of the company slumped nearly 35 percent in premarket trading after data showed that more patients who received Viking’s drug stopped taking the treatment, compared to those who received placebo in the mid-stage study.
Oral drugs are expected to take a significant share of the projected $150 billion weight-loss market, driven by their ease of use compared with injections such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.
Viking’s experimental oral pill is in a tight race with rival treatments being developed by the deeper-pocketed Novo and Lilly.
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said its experimental daily pill, orforglipron, showed a 12.4 percent weight loss in patients in a late-stage study over 72 weeks. In a separate trial, Novo’s oral semaglutide has shown a weight loss of 15 percent over 68 weeks. Both the oral drugs are expected to be launched next year.
Ahead of Viking’s data, analysts expected weight loss in the range of 10 to 15 percent on average for the pill, known as VK2735. It had shown an 8.2 percent average weight-loss in a small early-stage trial.
About 20 percent of those who received the drug discontinued due to an adverse effect, compared to 13 percent on placebo in the 280-patient study. The most common reasons for treatment discontinuation were gastrointestinal side effects, the company said.
Like Lilly’s Zepbound, Viking’s drug also targets hormones known as GLP-1 and GIP that play a critical role in regulating the body’s metabolism.
Viking is testing both the oral and under-the-skin injection forms of the drug in overweight patients who have who at least one weight-related comorbidity.
By Sriparna Roy and Siddhi Mahatole; Editors: Sriraj Kalluvila and Leroy Leo
Learn more:
GLP-1 Pills Will Be Priced Similarly to Injections, Wall Street Predicts
US prices for obesity-treatment pills that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk aim to launch next year will likely be on par with their weight-loss injections, analysts and investors say.