Weight loss drug concept.
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Shares of Viking Therapeutics Amazon shares jumped more than 30% on Thursday after the biotech company announced a day earlier that it plans to advance its experimental weight-loss shot into late-stage trials earlier than expected.
The deal brings the San Diego-based company one step closer to joining the popular market for GLP-1 products, which analysts say could grow to a $150 billion market by the end of the decade.
Viking is one of several small and large pharmaceutical companies hoping to compete in this space against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lillyas the demand for GLP-1s for weight loss and diabetes treatment has increased dramatically over the past two years.
Shares of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly fell more than 1% on Thursday.
Viking previously said it expects to start another mid-stage trial of the weekly injection, called VK2735, after reporting positive results from another phase 2 study in late February.
But after receiving written feedback from the FDA, the company decided to move the shot directly into phase 3 clinical trials, CEO Brian Lien said during an earnings call Wednesday.
The company is preparing to meet with the FDA in the fourth quarter to discuss the design and timing of that phase 3 clinical trial, with plans to begin the study after that, Lian said.
The decision will likely cut the timeline for the shot’s development by a year, BTIG analyst Justin Zelin said in a note Wednesday. Zelin said analysts currently estimate the drug will be available in 2029.
Viking expects to test VK2735 as a monthly injection in a future study, Lean added during the call. That could make the treatment a more convenient option than Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy, which are taken once a week.
Viking Therapeutics’ weight loss drug works by targeting GLP-1 and another hormone called GIP. These are the same hormones targeted by Eli Lilly’s Zepbound and its diabetes drug Mounjaro.
Patients who received weekly doses of the Viking injection in a phase 2 clinical trial lost up to 14.7% of their body weight, or 13.1% when compared to placebo, after 13 weeks.
Viking is also developing an oral version of VK2735. This drug caused 3.3% weight loss compared with placebo in an early phase of the trial.
