- Viking is now looking forward to advancing the oral version of its experimental obesity drug into late-stage study in the third-quarter (Q3) of 2026.
- The subcutaneous formulation of the drug VK2735 is already in late-stage trials for obesity.
- The CEO said that it expects subcutaneous VK2735 be “probably a little better” than a GLP-1 monoagonist such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy.
Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) CEO Brian Lian on Tuesday expressed optimism for the year ahead in light of the company’s plans for its VK2735 experimental drug being developed for obesity treatment.
“2025 was a big year for us. 2026 is gonna be a big year as well, Lian said at the Leerink Global Healthcare Conference. As per the CEO, the company will have four late-stage trials by the end of 2026.
Viking is now looking forward to advancing the oral version of its experimental obesity drug into late-stage study in the third-quarter (Q3) of 2026.
The subcutaneous formulation of the drug VK2735 is already in late-stage trials for obesity. The primary endpoint of the trials is the percent change in body weight from baseline after 78 weeks of treatment for participants receiving VK2735 as compared to placebo. In a mid-stage trial, patients achieved up to 14.7% mean weight loss in 13 weeks on the drug.
Regarding expected weight loss for the subcutaneous VK2735 trials, Lian said, “I would hope that we would be competitive with agents that are currently available. I think we should be probably a little better than a GLP-1 monoagonist, but really hard to project compared with the other polyagonists out there. We'll just have to see where the data fall out. When we model, it looks, I'd say competitive, to say the least.”
While Novo Nordisk’s popular weight loss drug Wegovy is a single-agonist drug, Eli Lilly and Company’s Zepbound is a dual agonist.
Viking’s Obesity Efforts
Unlike Viking, which is developing both subcutaneous and oral forms of the drug, obesity drug segment kingpins Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), in comparison, launched the subcutaneous forms of their blockbuster weight-loss drugs first. While Novo launched its oral obesity pill in January, Lilly is still awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its oral obesity pill.
Viking is also looking to file an application to start trials for a novel amylin agonist this quarter, as it seeks to expand its obesity portfolio. Amylin agonists are a class of medication that mimic the hormone amylin, which is co-secreted with insulin by pancreatic -cells to manage glucose levels and appetite.
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VKTX stock has gained more than 25% over the past 12 months.
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