The new drug of Viking (VKTX.US), a "new star" in the weight loss drug industry, has entered the late stage of R&D, and the share price of "NuoLi" fell sharply.
We learned from Zhitong Finance that the shares of "obesity drug giants" Lilly(LLY.US) and Novo Nordisk(NVO.US) fell more than 2% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after Viking Therapeutics(VKTX.US) announced plans to start its late-stage trial of its obesity candidate drug VK2735 later this year. Viking announced its 2024 second-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating expectations and pushing its shares up nearly 17% in pre-market trading on Thursday. Viking's plans for VK2735 suggest an accelerated timeline for its development.
Viking's plans for VK2735 suggest an accelerated timeline for its development. The biotech company previously said it would begin a Phase 2 trial of the candidate drug after obtaining positive data in a mid-stage trial. "We are moving forward to bring this compound into Phase 3 development, and we are currently preparing for the second phase end meeting with the agency, and we expect that to be later this year," said Brian Lian, the company's chief executive, after receiving written feedback from the FDA.
Meanwhile, the diabetes and obesity treatment market is competitive. Eli Lilly(PFE.US), Amgen(AMGN.US), Altimmune(ALT.US) and Sugden Biological(GPCR.US) are also vying for a piece of the lucrative obesity drug market, all seeking to develop new drugs. AstraZeneca(AZN.US) has also bet on the GLP-1 drug development pipeline, signing an exclusive license agreement with local biotech company Chinoy Biopharma for ECC5004 in 2023, worth $2 billion. Roche bought obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion this year, entering the obesity treatment market. But these companies were largely unaffected by the news, with their shares trading flat in pre-market trading.