Viking Therapeutics shares more than double on ‘statistically significant’ weight-loss trial results

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US biotech Viking Therapeutics’ shares more than doubled after trial data for the company’s weight loss drug outperformed existing treatments from drugmakers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.

Viking said its weight-loss drug had led to “statistically significant reductions in body weight”, with 13 per cent weight loss relative to a placebo, in a 13-week, mid-stage trial.

San Diego-based Viking’s shares jumped above $77 per share in Tuesday morning trading. The results weighed on shares in Copenhagen-listed Novo Nordisk, which dipped as much as 5 per cent after the results before recovering to trade down 1.7 per cent. Eli Lilly’s share price fell as much as 2.4 per cent in early US trading before later recovering its losses.

Viking said as many as 88 per cent of patients who received the drug achieved at least 10 per cent weight loss, compared with just 4 per cent for the placebo group. Weight loss also did not plateau at the end of the trial “suggesting further weight loss might be achieved by extended dosing period”, Viking added.

Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide drug had less than 10 per cent absolute weight reduction at all doses after its late-stage trial, noted Thomas Smith, an analyst at Leerink Partners.

While trial results are not directly comparable, Smith said the results were ahead of investors’ expectations and a “clear win for Viking Therapeutics”, with the data appearing “to compare favourably” with Lilly’s drug.

High demand for weight-loss drugs have helped Novo Nordisk become Europe’s largest company by market capitalisation, while Eli Lilly overtook Johnson & Johnson as the world’s largest pharmaceutical company last year.

While competitors to Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are far from bringing their drugs to market, Viking’s results show that the dominance of the two drugmakers in the sector could be…