Viking Therapeutics said on Tuesday its experimental weight-loss pill helped people with obesity lose up to 12.2% of their body weight over 13 weeks in a keenly watched study.<\/p>\n
Yet, shares of the company slumped nearly 35% in premarket trading after data showed that more patients who received Viking’s drug stopped taking the treatment, compared to those who received placebo in the mid-stage study.<\/p>\n
Oral drugs are expected to take a significant share of the projected $150 billion weight-loss market, driven by their ease of use compared with injections such as Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound.<\/p>\n
Viking’s experimental oral pill is in a tight race with rival treatments being developed by the deeper-pocketed Novo and Lilly.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Eli Lilly said its experimental daily pill, orforglipron, showed a 12.4% weight loss in patients in a late-stage study over 72 weeks. In a separate trial, Novo’s oral semaglutide has shown a weight loss of 15% over 68 weeks. Both the oral drugs are expected to be launched next year.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Viking’s data, analysts expected weight loss in the range of 10% to 15% on average for the pill, known as VK2735. It had shown an 8.2% average weight-loss in a small early-stage trial.<\/p>\n
About 20% of those who received the drug discontinued due to an adverse effect, compared to 13% on placebo in the 280-patient study. The most common reasons for treatment discontinuation were gastrointestinal side effects, the company said.<\/p>\n
Like Lilly’s Zepbound, Viking’s drug also targets hormones known as GLP-1 and GIP that play a critical role in regulating the body’s metabolism.<\/p>\n
Viking is testing both the oral and under-the-skin injection forms of the drug in overweight patients who have who at least one weight-related comorbidity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Viking Therapeutics said on Tuesday its experimental weight-loss pill helped people with obesity lose up to 12.2% of their body weight over 13 weeks in a keenly watched study. Yet, shares of the company slumped nearly 35% in premarket trading after data showed that more patients who received Viking’s drug stopped taking the treatment, compared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[365,364],"class_list":{"0":"post-1493","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sitefansalaran-industry-news","8":"tag-viking-therapeutics","9":"tag-vikings-oral-pill-reduces-up-to-12-2-weight-but-shares-slump-on-higher-patient-exits"},"yoast_head":"\n