Viking Therapeutics' Obesity Drug Data Shows Promising Early Results

(RTTNews) - Viking Therapeutics Inc. (VKTX) on Sunday issued positive early results in the trial of its experimental obesity pill VK2735, reports said, citing a presentation at the ObesityWeek meeting.

The company noted that higher doses of its oral tablet formulation increased patients' weight loss beyond earlier formulations.

In an early-stage study, patients lost 6.8 percent body weight compared to placebo in 28 days. Those who took 100-milligram doses of Viking's VK2735 lost an average of 8.2 percent of their body weight after 28 days.

Around 92 patients in the trial took various doses of the experimental obesity pill.

Earlier in March, Viking had reported positive results from the Phase 1 study of VK2735, in which participants showed reductions in mean body weight compared with placebo, ranging up to 3.3 percent, after 28 days. Those took a 40-mg oral dose lost 5.3 percent of body weight during the same time frame.