Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

Barron’s touts VKTX—including potential oral combination pill:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/weight-loss-drugs-eli-lilly-novo-nordisk-stocks-b867d642

Amgen and a small company called Viking Therapeutics are “set up perfectly” for obesity plus heart disease and NASH, respectively, says [Oppenheimer’s Jay] Olson.

…both companies have their own obesity meds in the works. …Amgen’s drug has potential as a monthly injection; current drugs on the market are injected weekly. Viking is working on a pill version of its drug, making it “one of the front-runners” in that race, says Olson.

Amgen already has a blockbuster drug called Repatha for treating high levels of the bad kind of cholesterol. The company hasn’t said whether it plans to combine Repatha, also a monthly injection, with its future obesity treatment, or whether such a combination is even feasible. But Olson views such a combination as likely. “Now you’re talking about a really potent cardiovascular risk-factor reduction combination,” he says.

The same goes for Viking and NASH. It has a pill in development that was shown this year to have sharply reduced liver fat in Phase 2 trials. Results compare well to those of a further-along drug from Madrigal Pharmaceuticals that is expected to be the first to win approval. Viking hasn’t indicated whether it plans to combine its NASH drug with its future obesity treatment, but Olson believes that the two drugs could eventually be taken as a single daily pill.