Viking Therapeutics Has $502 Million in Cash and 1 Big Catalyst Left in 2026 -- Is That Enough?
Investor sentiment on the key benefit of its lead drug candidate could be impacted in the current quarter.
Overview
Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) has two phase 3 trials (obesity and obesity/type diabetes) in progress for its key weight loss drug, VK2735 (subcutaneous formulation), and another phase 3 trial (oral formulation) set to start in the fourth quarter of 2026.
While results from those two trials are years away, and management maintains it has cash into 2028, there is a near-term catalyst that is directly relevant to how these trials might be conducted and, arguably more importantly, to the investment case for the stock.
Details
VK2735 is a dual GLP-1 and GIP agonist in trials for the treatment of obesity. It's a competitive market, but as previously discussed, VK2735 appears to have two benefits over its peers. First, it has demonstrated the ability to achieve a steeper rate of weight loss than its rivals in previous trials. Second, it's being developed as a dual-formulation therapy in which a more convenient oral maintenance dose will follow an initial subcutaneous (injection) dose. As such, the key benefit is steep weight loss followed by a convenient maintenance dose.
Source
Originally published at www.fool.com.