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Viking Therapeutics Shares closed more than 15% higher on Tuesday after the company said its experimental diet pill showed that positive results in a small study and will enter the next stage of development later this year.
The study results add to the excitement surrounding the pharmacist’s prospects in the burgeoning weight loss drug market.
Viking is one of several small biotech companies hoping to compete Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly in space, which analysts say could grow into a $100 billion market by the end of the decade. Some analysts see Viking as a particularly strong potential player or takeover target for a larger company.
Based on Tuesday’s results, Viking plans to begin a second phase of testing its weight-loss pill later this year. The once-daily tablet is an oral version of the company’s experimental weight-loss injection, which showed encouraging results in a mid-stage trial last month.
Optimism about Viking’s potential in the market has sent its shares soaring 345% this year.
The first trial of the pill followed more than 40 obese patients for about a month. These people received different dose sizes of the drug or received a placebo.
Viking said patients taking the once-daily pill lost up to 5.3% of their weight on average, or up to 3.3% more than those taking a placebo, over 28 days.
Up to 57% of patients who received the Viking pill lost at least 5% of their body weight. Meanwhile, no people who received the placebo lost as much weight, the company said.
Specifically, those who received higher doses of the experimental pill appeared to maintain or add to their weight loss at 34 days into the study, six days after their last dose of the drug. Weight loss for these patients ranged up to 3.6% higher than those who received placebo.
Viking CEO Brian Lian said during a conference call Tuesday that it was unclear “how durable” the drawdown is. However, he noted that the sustained weight loss seen in the trial may be encouraging for patients who may miss a dose because they travel or don’t have access to their medication.
“I think that’s an encouraging sign that you don’t necessarily have to take it every day,” he said.
In a statement, Viking said it believed treating patients beyond 28 days could provide “further reductions in body weight.”
The company also said the trial showed the pill to be safe and tolerable to take.
The majority of adverse events experienced by patients after starting the oral medication were of mild severity.
The majority of gastrointestinal events experienced by patients were mild. Gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea and vomiting, are commonly seen with all weight loss and diabetes treatments.
But people who took the Viking pill did not report vomiting. Patients who received the placebo also reported diarrhea more often than those treated with the oral drug, the company said.
Analysts compared Viking’s weight-loss injection to Eli Lilly’s injectable drug Zepbound because both drugs mimic two naturally occurring gut hormones called GLP-1 and GIP.
GLP-1 helps reduce food intake and appetite. GIP, which also suppresses appetite, can also improve the way the body breaks down sugar and fat.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight loss injection targets only GLP-1.