Viking Therapeutics (VKTX.US) diet pills have good news: the dosing frequency was halved and 97% weight loss was maintained, and the stock price once soared by nearly 50% before the market

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Viking Therapeutics (VKTX.US) surged nearly 50% before the market on Tuesday, after the biotech company announced that its experimental obesity drug VK2735 helped patients maintain most of their weight loss results while reducing the frequency of use from once a week to once every two weeks.

This result is expected to further strengthen VK2735's competitive position in the rapidly expanding diet medicine market. Currently, companies are competing with major therapies from LLY.US (LLY.US) and Novo Nordisk (NVO.US). VK2735 is seen as a potential competitor for major weight loss drugs such as Eli Lilly Zepbound and Novo Nordisk Wegovy.

As of press time, VKTX shares are up nearly 23%. Since this year, the stock has accumulated a decline of about 15%.

VK2735 can maintain up to 97% weight reduction

In this study involving 180 patients, obese adults initially received weekly injections of VK2735 (a GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist) for 21 weeks. During this period, patients lost 16% to 19% of their body weight, while the exploratory group that continued weekly treatment achieved about 22% weight loss after 33 weeks.

Patients who then switched to taking medication every two weeks and continued for another 12 weeks maintained up to 97% of their previous weight loss results, while those who switched to placebo maintained only 61%.

Brian Lian, CEO of Viking Therapeutics, said, “This may provide an opportunity to evaluate higher doses and improve the possibility of exploring maintenance and induction weight loss with lower frequency dosing regimens.”

According to information, VK2735 is Viking's main drug of choice for obesity symptoms, and two dosage forms are being developed: injections and oral doses. The injectable version is being evaluated in the Phase 3 Vanquish program, which began in 2025 and includes two fully enrolled trials, totaling approximately 5,500 patients.

According to analysts, the opportunities in the diet pills market are still huge. In July, Goldman Sachs Research raised the 2030 global obesity drug sales forecast to $114 billion, of which oral treatments are expected to account for about 40% of the market share.