Viking Therapeutics Inc (VKTX)

[DMOST]

THANKS!.......VKTX.

Viking: The latest 13F filing showed that Viking has a large Institutional ownership of 201 holders, accounting for 66.26% or 47,348,448 total shares held. Recent buyers include BlackRock Inc, State Street Corp. (NYSE:STT), FMR LLC, Arrowmark Colorado Holdings and Boxer Capital LLC. A total of 7 analyst firms recommend a strong buy with a 12-month consensus price target of $27.31.

MGL-3196 (MDGL) and VK2809 (VKTX) are thyroid hormone receptor ß-selective (THR ß) agonists. Madrigal will initiate Phase 3 clinical trial for MGL-3196 in NASH in Q1/2019. VK2809 has shown clinical promise in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) or simple steatosis. NAFL is not NASH. The liver fat in patients with NAFL is benign whereas patients with biopsied NASH have inflammatory hepatic fat. For this reason, the ongoing comparison between Viking and Madrigal in regard to their efficacy in NASH is flawed since VK2809 has not been evaluated in biopsied NASH. A head-to-head comparison involving MGL-3196 and VK2809 in biopsied patients with NASH would provide definite clinical answers on the anti-NASH effectiveness or clinically meaningful benefits of both drug candidates.

Market Outlook

NASH is a huge addressable market estimated at $32B. Obviously, all biopharma with an anti-NASH drug candidate is hoping to capture a sizeable share of the NASH market. Intercept is expected to file for NDA application for obeticholic acid in H2/2019, making it the first drug to the market for NASH. Genfit could be next if its Phase 3 trial pans out. The adverse events seen with obeticholic acid may make this drug intolerable to some patients. An ideal drug candidate should demonstrate therapeutic efficacy with good safety and tolerability signals. With many drug candidates in clinical trials for NASH, liver therapeutics investment opportunities could and would be financially rewarding for some investors.
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4245504-cymabay-viking-therapeutics-nash-market-assessment?page=2

GO VKTX

"PEACE"