Viking falls as rival Amgen ‘pleased’ with interim weight-loss drug data

BUZZ-Viking falls as rival Amgen ‘pleased’ with interim weight-loss drug data

Updates

** Shares of drug developer Viking Therapeutics VKTX.O fall 3.4% to $73.20 premarket

** Rival Amgen AMGN.O said late on Thursday it was “very pleased” with interim safety and efficacy data from a mid-stage study of its experimental weight-loss drug MariTide

** AMGN shares rise 13.2% to $315.17 premarket, company expects to release mid-stage data for MariTide later this year

** VKTX’s injectable weight-loss drug has shown to help patients lose nearly 15% of their body weight on average in a study

** Viking and Eli Lilly’s weight-loss treatments have a more validated mechanism of action that has been tried and tested, which may give it higher preference in a commercial setting compared to Amgen’s MariTide, according to analysts at Truist Securities

** “We think the knee-jerk sell-off is a buying opportunity” – Truist

** Shares of weight-loss drug market leaders Eli Lily LLY.N down ~1.2% premarket and Novo Nordisk NOVOB.CO down 3.8%

** As of last close, VKTX shares have more than quadrupled this year

** YTD, AMGN down 3.3%, while LLY up about 30% and Novo up about 20%

Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru