Re VKTX
Peter, I am on the road now so I do not have sufficient time to give you a detailed answer on the two different programs that Viking has ongoing. I will try to respond this evening or tomorrow, in more detail, but then I start another road trip on Monday so I may not get to it.
Regarding the SARM program, I fully expect the FDA to ask for an outcomes trial. MRK a similar program a few years ago with a collaborator, for cancer cachexia. The FDA asked for an outcomes trial as I said, and MRK decided it was not desirable so they terminated that collaborative of program. VKTX has stated that they would carry their SARM program to the end of phase 2 and then have a collaborator carry it through registration trials. I do know of other investors that want Viking to carry the program entirely to approval on their own. They think it is such high value.
As to the two thyroid hormone aonists you mention, I do not know much about the second compound. I will have to check my notes and my information on patents granted to give you a better answer. But I believe both of these compounds are quite good and their discoverer at Metabasis has a solid reputation and is now a VP at Merck. Metabasis ran into funding issues during the financial crisis and thus sold out to Ligand.
I have an investment in VKTX, but a larger one in MDGL.
Thanks to voice dictation, I gave a longer answer than originally thought I would.
