Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) shares jumped then fell after it reported results from a trial of its weightloss tablet.
The San Diego company said its phase-one clinical trial of an oral tablet formulation of its VK2735 tablet dosed daily for 28 days resulted in up to 8.2% mean weight loss for some patients, or 6.8% versus a placebo.
VK2735 is a dual agonist of the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors, which Viking is developing for the potential treatment of various metabolic disorders in both subcutaneous and oral formulations.
It said the multiple ascending dose oral trial, including results for the study's 60 mg, 80 mg, and 100 mg daily treatment cohorts, showed "encouraging" tolerability through 100mg daily dosing, with only "mild" gastrointestinal-related adverse events.
The results were shown in a poster presentation at ObesityWeek 2024, the annual meeting of the Obesity Society.
A second poster presentation focused on follow-up results from Viking's Phase 2 clinical trial of VK2735 via subcutaneous injection, showed the previously reported data that patients receiving weekly doses of VK2735 demonstrated statistically significant reductions in mean body weight after 13 weeks, ranging up to 14.7% from baseline.
Viking said it "believes the results support the feasibility of once-monthly dosing in the maintenance setting".