Viking's pre-market plunge, mid-term trial results of oral weight-loss drug VK2735 fall short of expectations.

Due to the mid-term trial data of Viking Therapeutics' experimental oral weight loss drug falling short of expectations, as of the time of writing, the stock plunged nearly 34% in pre-market trading on Tuesday. In a statement, Viking said that its oral GLP-1R/GIPR dual agonist VK2735 can help patients lose weight by up to 12.2%. However, within just three months, about 28% of patients dropped out of the trial. This has shaken people's confidence in the drug's ability to compete with medications from Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and others. Mizuho Securities analyst Jared Holz said, "It's worth noting just how high the dropout rate is within 13 weeks."