Shares of Viking Therapeutics fell 40% on Tuesday after the corporate launched mid-stage trial data on its weight problems capsule that disillusioned buyers.
The outcomes may very well be a blow to Viking, which was once seen as a hot M&A target as pharmaceutical firms scramble to hitch the booming marketplace for weight problems and diabetes medication. It might reinforce Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk‘s dominance within the house, particularly as they develop pills for weight loss that would enter the market years forward of the pill formulation of Viking’s drug, VK2735.
Jared Holz, Mizuho well being care fairness strategist, stated in an electronic mail Tuesday that the data “probably shutters hope for [Viking] to be a bigtime player in the oral obesity market over the near to medium term.”
The race to develop a extra handy weight problems capsule has been fraught, as firms resembling Pfizer have needed to scrap earlier contenders and convey forth new ones.
Viking’s once-daily pill helped sufferers lose as much as 12.2% of their weight at round three months. The firm additionally stated that weight reduction did not plateau, which suggests sufferers might lose much more in a longer-term research.
It’s tough to immediately examine the capsule’s section two trial data to the outcomes of oral medication additional alongside in growth, together with remedies developed by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Holz added that the outcomes on Viking’s capsule “look inferior” to these of Eli Lilly’s oral drug “on almost all metrics.” The highest dose of Eli Lilly’s every day capsule helped sufferers lose 12.4% of their physique weight, or 11.2% no matter discontinuations, at 72 weeks in a section three trial.
Holz pointed to the excessive price of sufferers who discontinued Viking’s drug for any motive over 13 weeks, which was round 28%. Meanwhile, round 1 / 4 of individuals discontinued Eli Lilly’s capsule, orforglipron, for any motive over 72 weeks.
That’s “a much longer trial and therefore [Lilly] looks far better head-to-head,” Holz stated.
Viking stated the most typical causes for sufferers to discontinue therapy had been gastrointestinal unwanted side effects, nearly all of which had been gentle to reasonable in severity and noticed earlier in therapy. But round 58% of sufferers on the capsule reported experiencing nausea and 26% skilled vomiting, in comparison with 48% and 10%, respectively, amongst those that took a placebo.
Those facet impact charges over a shorter trial interval seem like worse than these seen in trials on Eli Lilly’s capsule and the oral model of Novo Nordisk’s weight reduction drug Wegovy.
Viking’s therapy works by imitating two naturally produced intestine hormones known as GLP-1 and GIP.
GLP-1 helps cut back meals consumption and urge for food. GIP, which additionally suppresses urge for food, can also enhance how the physique breaks down sugar and fats.
Eli Lilly’s capsule and the oral model of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy each goal GLP-1, however the latter has dietary restrictions.