Viking Therapeutics Shares Surge 36% On Obesity Drug Dosing Data

Shares of Viking Therapeutics jumped 36% on Sept. 22 after the San Diego biotech reported trial data on its experimental obesity drug VK2735, according to TheStreet.

The company said participants who switched from weekly to monthly injections maintained an average of 85% of their prior weight loss, while those who moved to every-other-week dosing maintained 90%, per the report. Patients who stayed on weekly dosing continued losing weight, reaching 21.7% from baseline at week 33 with no plateau reported, according to the trial data cited by TheStreet.

TheStreet notes the gain was Viking's largest single-day stock move since February 2024, when shares rose 120% following separate positive weight-loss trial results, as reported by CNBC. The outlet frames the dosing data as potentially addressing adherence challenges with GLP-1 drugs, citing an NIH report that found 53.6% of patients stopped GLP-1 therapy within the first year and 72.2% within two years.