How Viking Therapeutics is poised to disrupt pharma

Shares of Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) are rising after data from the company's latest weight loss drug trial showed greater efficacy compared to competing products from Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) and Novo Nordisk A/S (NVO). On Tuesday, the company also announced that it initiated an underwritten public offering of $350 million of shares of its common stock.

Yahoo Finance Health Reporter Anjalee Khemlani joins the Live show to discuss Viking Therapeutics' latest trial results and how the data positions the company going forward.

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Editor's note: This article was written by Nicholas Jacobino

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: We've talked so much about GLP-1 and the weight loss drugs. New developments out from Viking Therapeutics, which could really, potentially, disrupt this sector even more.

ANJALEE KHEMLANI: Could disrupt, and Viking could even become a target for acquisition. That's really what is being set up here. They did come out yesterday with their phase II top-line results, showing stronger efficacy in weight loss than competitors Lilly and Novo Nordisk.

And so, that, really, of course, is just a mid-stage trial. It's really important to point out. So what they will have to do now is prove that this up to 15% of body weight loss is replicable in a larger population in the phase III trials. What's interesting to point out, though, is it's similar with the others in the sense that it's a weekly dose, and the side effects are also comparable.

They lost about a fifth of the participating trial members because of the nausea and the other side effects. So it will be interesting to see what the actual phase III resul