Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) suffered a brutal market sell-off on Tuesday, with shares plunging over 40% in one of the biotech firm's steepest single-day drops since its initial public offering in 2015.
The rout followed the release of Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral trial results for its much-hyped weight-loss drug VK2735, an oral GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist. While the pill achieved double-digit weight loss, investor confidence was rocked by safety concerns and dropout rates approaching 30%. The sell-off wiped out an estimated $1.8 billion in market value, cutting Viking's market capitalisation to just under $2.8 billion.
