Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ:VKTX) is seeing an upswing in its share price thanks to the positive Phase 2 results for an experimental liver drug that its rival Madrigal Pharmaceuticals is reporting.
The success of Madrigal’s phase 2 trial for its drug MGL-3196, a liver drug which treats non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH, bodes well for Viking, which is introducing trial results for VK2809, in its own liver drug to treat NASH, later this year.
The two livers drugs, which are both liver-directed THR-beta selective agonists, work in similar ways to treat NASH, a condition in which fat builds up in the liver and causes inflammation and cell damage.
In Viking’s phase 2 NASH study, VK2809 is being tested to treat both NASH and hypercholesterolemia.
Data to date shows that treatment with VK2809 produces rapid and substantial reductions in liver triglyceride content and liver weight as a percentage of body weight compared with standard treatments.
“We believe that the Madrigal results further de-risk the outcome of the VK2809 study,” wrote Joseph Pantginis, an analyst with H.C. Wainwright, who raised his price target on Viking to US$15.00 from US$11.00 while keeping a neutral rating on the stock.
“VK2809 has the potential to be best-in-class based on differentiated chemistry and liver selectivity, which potentially minimizes the risk for systemic side effects,” he added in his note, first seen by the business news site Street Insider.
Read: Madrigal Pharmaceuticals releases promising study results, Oppenheimer more than doubles price target
In recent weeks, Viking shares have more than doubled in the wake of Madrigal’s positive phase 2 NASH drug results, though they traded down 4% in Friday’s morning trade session at US$9.56.
NASH, one of the world’s fastest-growing diseases, is expected to be the leading cause of liver transplants by 2020, according to a release put out by Madrigal Pharmaceuticals.
Oppenheimer analysts have also updated Madrigal Pharmaceutical’s rating to Outperform from Perform and doubled their price target to US$300, citing its “very promising” Phase 2 study for MGL-3196.