Viking Therapeutics' (NASDAQ: VKTX) stock is up an eye-popping 860% over the last three years, with the lion's share of those gains occurring in the last few months. The biotech's pursuit of treatments for metabolic illnesses like obesity shows no sign of slowing down. If its flagship weight loss program's performance holds up in the upcoming late-stage trials, it could commercialize its first weight loss drug relatively soon, potentially raking in billions of dollars.

But despite the fairly high probability of this company's future success, there is (at least) one notable risk to be aware of now. Let's zoom in on what's going on to put it into the proper context.

Viking is determined to capture a portion of the galaxy-sized market for weight loss therapies. In the U.S., this market -- which includes many products and services that aren't prescription drugs -- was worth nearly $90 billion in 2023, per Marketdata.​

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Source Fool.com