Like Eli Lilly, Viking Therapeutics' Oral Weight Loss Drug Disappoints, Stock Tanks

On Tuesday, Viking Therapeutics Inc. VKTX released the much-awaited data from its Phase 2 trial of VK2735 pill, the company’s dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors.

VK2735 is being developed in oral and subcutaneous formulations for metabolic disorders such as obesity.

The Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral Dosing trial achieved its primary and secondary endpoints, with patients receiving VK2735 demonstrating statistically significant reductions in body weight compared with placebo.

Additionally, the study demonstrated that VK2735 treatment was safe and well-tolerated over 13 weeks of daily dosing, with most treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) categorized as mild or moderate.

Also Read: Eli Lilly’s Rare Weight Loss Data Miss Could Benefit Competitors

Participants receiving once-daily doses of the oral VK2735 demonstrated up to a 12.2% reduction in mean body weight after 13 weeks from baseline.

Participants receiving VK2735 showed up to a 10.9% reduction in body weight compared to the placebo. No plateau observed for weight loss at 13 weeks.

All doses of VK2735 greater than 15 mg also demonstrated statistically significant differences relative to the placebo on the key secondary endpoint, assessing the proportion of subjects who demonstrated at least 5% and 10% weight loss.

Up to 97% of subjects in the VK2735 treatment groups achieved ≥5% weight loss, compared with 10% for placebo, and up to 80% of subjects in VK2735 treatment groups achieved ≥10% weight loss, compared with 5% for placebo.

It is worth noting that Eli Lilly and Co. LLY reported underwhelming data from weight loss pill, orforglipron, earlier in August.

For the primary endpoint, orforglipron 36 mg lowered weight by an average of 12.4% (27.3 lbs) compared to 0.9% (2.2 lbs) with placebo.

Last week, an analyst said the Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral trial data could position the company to capitalize on Eli Lilly’s recent setback and expand treatment options beyond injections.

The VENTURE-Oral Dosing study included an exploratory dosing cohort to assess weight loss maintenance.

In this treatment group, participants were rapidly titrated to a daily dose of 90 mg. After 4 weeks of daily dosing at 90 mg, participants were down-titrated to 30 mg daily doses and maintained at 30 mg daily for 7 weeks.

Weight loss in this treatment group was shown to be rapid and progressive through the 90 mg treatment period and was maintained following the transition to 30 mg daily doses.

The observed results suggest effective weight maintenance may also be achieved at doses <30 mg.

In 2024, Viking announced topline results from the Phase 2 VENTURE study of subcutaneous VK2735 in obesity.

Patients receiving VK2735 demonstrated statistically significant reductions in mean body weight from baseline, ranging from 0.0% to 14.7%, and statistically significant decreases in mean body weight relative to placebo, ranging from 0.0% to 13.1%.

Price Action: VKTX stock is down 19.22% at $34 during the premarket session at the last check on Tuesday.

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