Why Viking Therapeutics Was Crushing It This Week

A multibillion-dollar deal in the healthcare industry helped lift the stock of a company, Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX), not directly involved in the transaction. The deal centered around a hot class of drugs Viking is also developing. As a result, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, Viking's share price was up by a whopping 39% week to date as of Friday before market open.

The week kicked off with global pharmaceutical company Roche (OTC: RHHBY) announcing it signed an agreement essentially to acquire clinical-stage biotech Carmot Therapeutics. For its new asset, Roche will make an up-front payment of $2.7 billion to be transacted fully in cash. Current Carmot investors will also be entitled to receive up to an additional $400 million should certain milestones be met.

Carmot is currently developing a drug that targets obesity. This is a white-hot segment of the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, as evidenced by the very strong demand for Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk's Wegovy (and its related diabetes drug, Ozempic).

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Source Fool.com