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Viking Therapeutics shares closed greater than 15% higher on Tuesday after the corporate said its experimental weight loss pill showed positive results in a small study and can enter the subsequent stage of development later this 12 months.
The study results add to the joy across the drugmaker’s prospects within the budding weight loss drug market.
Viking is certainly one of several small biotech corporations hoping to compete with Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly within the space, which analysts say could grow right into a $100 billion market by the tip of the last decade. Some analysts view Viking as a very strong potential player, or takeover goal for a bigger company.
Based on Tuesday’s results, Viking plans to begin a phase two trial of its weight loss pill later this 12 months. The once-a-day tablet is an oral version of the corporate’s experimental weight loss injection, which showed encouraging results in a mid-stage trial last month.
Optimism about Viking’s potential out there has sent its shares flying 345% higher this 12 months.
The phase one trial for the pill followed greater than 40 patients with obesity for around a month. Those people took different dose sizes of the drug or received a placebo.
Viking said patients who received the pill once a day lost as much as 5.3% of their weight on average, or as much as 3.3% greater than those that took a placebo, at 28 days.
As much as 57% of patients who received Viking’s pill lost a minimum of 5% of their body weight. Meanwhile, no individuals who took the placebo shed that much weight, the corporate said.
Notably, those that received higher doses of the experimental pill appeared to keep up or add to their weight loss at 34 days within the study, six days after their last dose of the drug. Weight loss for those patients ranged as much as 3.6% higher than those that received a placebo.
Viking CEO Brian Lian said during a conference call Tuesday that it’s unclear “how durable” the weight loss is. Still, he noted that the sustained weight loss seen within the trial could also be encouraging to patients who might miss a dose because they’re traveling or haven’t got access to their medication.
“I believe that is an encouraging sign that you just don’t necessarily need to take it on daily basis,” he said.
In a release, Viking said it believes that treating patients beyond 28 days may provide “further reductions in body weight.”
The corporate also said the trial suggested the pill is secure and tolerable to take.
The vast majority of unwanted side effects that patients experienced after starting the oral drug were mild in severity.
The vast majority of gastrointestinal events that patients experienced were mild. Gastrointestinal unwanted side effects, akin to nausea and vomiting, are commonly seen across all weight loss and diabetes treatments.
But individuals who received Viking’s pill didn’t report vomiting. Patients who took the placebo also reported diarrhea more incessantly than those treated with the oral drug, the corporate said.
Analysts have compared Viking’s weight loss injection to Eli Lilly’s injectable drug Zepbound because each drugs imitate two naturally produced gut hormones called GLP-1 and GIP.
GLP-1 helps reduce food intake and appetite. GIP, which also suppresses appetite, might also improve how the body breaks down sugar and fat.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s weight loss injection Wegovy only targets GLP-1.