--- title: "Could Viking Therapeutics Become the Next Eli Lilly?" description: "Viking Therapeutics is positioning itself in the booming obesity treatment market, aiming to rival Eli Lilly's success with its VK2735 candidate. While Eli Lilly has achieved significant market domina" type: "news" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/242776468.md" published_at: "2025-06-02T10:48:02.000Z" --- # Could Viking Therapeutics Become the Next Eli Lilly? > Viking Therapeutics is positioning itself in the booming obesity treatment market, aiming to rival Eli Lilly's success with its VK2735 candidate. While Eli Lilly has achieved significant market dominance and revenue growth, Viking's innovative dual-agonist approach shows promise, with early trial data indicating rapid weight loss and a favorable safety profile. Despite its current small valuation and speculative nature, positive results from VK2735 could attract investor interest. However, the path to success remains uncertain, and potential investors should approach with caution. The obesity treatment market is booming, with groundbreaking drugs like **Eli Lilly**'s (LLY 2.28%) Zepbound delivering transformative patient results and powering its stock to a spectacular 400% return in the past five years. Amid this estimated $100 billion opportunity, much smaller upstart **Viking Therapeutics** (VKTX -4.69%) has emerged with a promising clinical pipeline, aiming to capture a share of the weight loss and metabolic disease market with its novel dual-agonist approach. Despite a long road ahead for this clinical-stage biotech, recent data suggesting that its VK2735 candidate could rival and even outperform the leading therapies highlights the significant potential of this exciting small-cap stock. Could Viking Therapeutics be the next Eli Lilly? Here's what you need to know. Image source: Getty Images. ## Comparing Eli Lilly and Viking Therapeutics Every market leader started somewhere, and Eli Lilly's history of innovation spans 149 years since its founding in 1876. The global healthcare giant now commands a market capitalization of $685 billion and generated $45 billion in revenue for 2024 across an extensive portfolio of approximately 25 prescription drugs spanning diabetes, obesity, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience. Its flagship therapy, tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes and Zepbound for chronic weight management, is a dual agonist targeting glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptors, which play key roles in regulating blood glucose levels and metabolism. Data shows that Zepbound patients achieve around 21% weight loss over 72 weeks, marking a revolution in obesity treatment. Despite competition from alternatives like **Novo Nordisk**'s Wegovy, Eli Lilly is capturing strong demand, evident in first-quarter revenue of $12.7 billion that surged 45% year over year for the period ending March 31. The company is translating this momentum into accelerating profitability, with earnings per share (EPS) climbing 29% from the prior-year quarter. Management remains optimistic that these trends will continue. In light of these achievements, Viking Therapeutics has large shoes to fill. The company's current $3 billion valuation is tiny compared to industry leaders, and it has yet to launch a commercial product. Yet, progress toward securing its first U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the coming years would represent a milestone, establishing Viking as a commercially sustainable biotech player with significant long-term potential. ## Why Viking could follow in Lilly's footsteps Viking's path to emulating Eli Lilly's success lies in its innovative approach to the obesity market through a research and development (R&D) program that also encompasses therapies for diabetes and metabolic disorders like MASH. Compared to existing FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, Viking's VK2735 could be a game-changer, with several advantages emerging from early trial data. Viking's VK2735 GLP-1/GIP dual-agonist delivered a 15% weight loss in just 13 weeks during its Phase 2 VENTURE trial, demonstrating rapid efficacy that far outpaces the baseline trajectories of Zepbound or Wegovy. There are also indications that patients can continue the medication for sustained, potentially greater weight loss, unlike some GLP-1 therapies, where efficacy plateaus. Furthermore, VK2735's early tolerability data show mostly mild to moderate side effects, such as nausea, supporting a favorable safety profile -- a critical advantage given reports of more serious adverse reactions from other GLP-1 drugs, including rare gastroparesis issues. If these results hold in further testing, VK2735 could emerge with a best-in-class profile, driving accelerated global adoption in the obesity treatment market. With $852 million in cash and no debt as of March 31, management is confident in its resources to advance VK2735, and it's already preparing for eventual FDA approval. The company recently announced a manufacturing supply agreement to secure annual capacity for up to 100 million autoinjectors, 100 million vials and syringe products, and over 1 billion oral tablets ahead of a possible large-scale commercial launch in the coming years, assuming all goes well. ## Verdict: A long road ahead It's unlikely that Viking Therapeutics will become the next Eli Lilly anytime soon, and it remains a highly speculative investment given the uncertainties surrounding its pipeline and regulatory approval timeline. Nevertheless, positive readouts from VK2735 later this year could provide the catalyst needed for the stock to rebound. Investors with a long time horizon who are confident that Viking will disrupt the GLP-1 market and validate its R&D platform might consider taking a small position in the stock today within a diversified portfolio. Alternatively, this stock is worth keeping an eye on for now. ### Related Stocks - [VKTX.US - Viking Therap](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/VKTX.US.md) - [LLY.US - Eli Lilly](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/LLY.US.md) - [VIK.US - Viking](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/VIK.US.md) ## Related News & Research | Title | Description | URL | |-------|-------------|-----| | BUZZ-Viking 治療公司股價上漲，因其計劃在後期研究中測試口服肥胖藥物 | Viking Therapeutics 的股票上漲了 9.4%，至 31.24 美元，此前該公司宣佈計劃在第三季度將其口服肥胖藥 VK2735 推進至後期試驗。VKTX 強調提供口服和注射兩種劑型的重要性，因為目前沒有其他雙重或三重激動劑同 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275665780.md) | | Viking Therapeutics 公佈 2025 財年的研究與開發費用為 3.45 億美元 | Viking Therapeutics Inc. 報告其 2025 財年的研發費用為 3.45 億美元，未產生任何收入，因為尚未商業化任何藥物候選者。這些費用因 VK2735 和 VK2809 的臨牀試驗而顯著增加。公司在其產品線方面取得了 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/275668350.md) | | Viking CEO 表示，減肥交易的需求比表面上看到的更為廣泛 | Viking Therapeutics 首席執行官 Brian Lian 表示，對減肥藥物交易的興趣比看起來更廣泛，因為製藥公司旨在進入預計達到 1500 億美元的市場。關鍵的增長因素包括擴展的臨牀應用和下一代療法。Lian 指出，公司正在 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272335070.md) | | Viking 治療在最新的公司展示中展示了其在肥胖和代謝疾病領域的研發進展 | Viking Therapeutics Inc. 發佈了一份企業演示文稿，重點介紹其在代謝和內分泌疾病領域的管線進展。值得注意的更新包括正在進行的 VK2735 的第三階段 VANQUISH 計劃，這是一種用於肥胖的雙重 GLP-1/GIP | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272603256.md) | | Viking 治療公司報告稱，第二階段試驗結果顯示，VK2735 在肥胖患者中實現了最高 14.7% 的體重減輕 | Viking Therapeutics Inc. 報告稱，其 VK2735 的第二階段 VENTURE 試驗顯示，在 13 周後，肥胖患者的體重減輕高達 14.7%，且結果沒有出現平台期。該治療耐受性良好，主要的不良事件為輕度或中度。VK2 | [Link](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272265172.md) | --- > **Disclaimer**: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.