Why Viking Therapeutics Is Plunging Today

Clinical-stage biotech Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) is having another tough trading session. As of 1:40 p.m. ET Tuesday, Viking's stock was down by 19.8% on higher-than-normal volume, continuing a decline that started Monday.

Yesterday, the biotech's shares initially sank in response to Pfizer's decision to advance a mid-stage weight loss drug into phase 3 testing. Today, Viking's stock is under pressure from impressive phase 2 results for Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) next-generation obesity treatment retatrutide.

In a mid-stage trial, retatrutide produced a best-in-class mean weight loss of 24.2% at 48 weeks. This result caused Viking's shares to sink due to the competitive implications for its weight loss candidate VK2735.

Source Fool.com