According to Choohon Finance, on Thursday, the stock prices of the 'weight loss drug champions' Eli Lilly (LLY.US) and Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) both fell more than 2% before the market opened. Earlier, Viking Therapeutics (VKTX.US) announced plans to begin late-stage trials of its obesity candidate drug VK2735 later this year. Viking's Q2 2024 financial report released on Wednesday, which exceeded expectations, pushed up the company's stock price by nearly 17% in pre-market trading on Thursday. Viking's plans for VK2735 indicate that its development timeline has accelerated.

Viking's plans for VK2735 indicate that its development timeline has accelerated. Previously, the biotech company stated that it would begin Phase 2b trials of the candidate drug after receiving positive data from mid-term trials. After receiving written feedback from the FDA, the company's CEO, Brian Lian, stated, 'We are moving forward with this compound to the third stage of development. We are currently preparing for a meeting with the agency to end Phase 2, which we expect to hold later this year.'

Meanwhile, the market for diabetes and weight loss treatments is intense. Pfizer (PFE.US), Amgen (AMGN.US), Altimmune (ALT.US), and Schrodinger (GPCR.US) are also seeking to grab a share of the profitable weight loss drug market by working hard on developing new drugs. AstraZeneca (AZN.US) is also betting on the development pipeline of GLP-1 related drugs, and has signed an exclusive licensing agreement with China's local biotechnology company, Cheng Yi Bio, for ECC5004, worth $2 billion in 2023. Roche also entered the obesity treatment market this year by acquiring US weight loss drug developer Carmot Therapeutics for $2.7 billion. However, these companies were not significantly affected by the news and their stock prices held steady before the market opened.