Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) stock rocketed Thursday after the company said it’s exploring a monthly dose of its weight-loss drug. The news is a blow to obesity kingpins Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY).
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The small biotech company also said it will accelerate its under-the-skin shot, dubbed VK2735, directly into final-phase testing following a meeting with the Food and Drug Administration. This indicates an accelerated pathway, Leerink Partners analyst Thomas Smith said in a client note. Previously, Viking planned for a Phase 2b study.
The news rocked shares of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The duo lead the weight-loss drugs market with Zepbound and Wegovy, respectively. But their weekly shots are facing shortages, meaning competitors have wiggle room to jump into the market.
And Viking is the first to announce a potential monthly injection.
“While we find VK2735 to be a potential best-in-class injectable compound, a once-monthly formulation may be a significant competitive differentiator for Viking,” Maxim Group analyst Naz Rahman said in a report. “Patients are known to be (noncompliant) on weekly therapies, thus reducing the administration burden to once-monthly may be a highly attractive proposition.”
After the stock market opened, Viking Therapeutics stock shot 28.8% higher to 64.94. Eli Lilly stock lost 4.6%, trading at 820.81. Novo Nordisk stock fell 2.7% to 128.10.
Viking Therapeutics Stock Makes A Bullish Move
Viking said it’s also planning to run a 13-week study of its oral obesity treatment beginning in the fourth quarter. This follows “competitive weight loss and a clean safety profile at week four,” Leerink’s Smith said.
He has an outperform rating on Viking Therapeutics stock.
“Overall, we expect strength in Viking Therapeutics shares on the back of (Wednesday’s) updates, with a potentially expedited path for (under-the-skin) VK2735 and ongoing dose escalation for oral VK2735 that continues to suggest differentiated safety/tolerability and best-in-class potential,” he said.
Viking Therapeutics stock bounded off its 50-day moving average, MarketSurge shows. VKTX stock has a perfect IBD Digital Relative Strength Rating of 99, putting it in the leading 1% of all stocks when it comes to 12-month performance.
Follow Allison Gatlin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @IBD_AGatlin.
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