VKTX Stock Soars 38% as VK2735 Maintains Weight-Loss with Less-Frequent Dosing

VKTX jumped about 38% in premarket trading after Viking Therapeutics reported that its obesity drug VK2735 helped patients maintain up to 97% of their weight loss when weekly injections were switched to every-other-week dosing over 12 weeks. In a 180-patient study, initial weight losses of 16–19% occurred over 21 weeks, with the exploratory group achieving roughly 22% weight loss after 33 weeks. VK2735 is in Phase 3 (Vanquish program) with about 5,500 patients across two trials, positioning Viking amid fierce competition from Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk in a market forecast to reach tens of billions of dollars.