Shares of the clinical-stage metabolic disorder specialist Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) were down by 6.45% on moderate volume as of 1:42 p.m. ET Thursday afternoon. The drugmaker's shares are sinking in lockstep with a wide swath of the developmental-stage biopharma space today.

Underscoring this point, the bellwhether SPDR S Biotech ETF was down by 2.36% on light volume at the time of this writing. Small- and mid-cap biotech stocks are under pressure today following the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) decision to sue over the proposed merger between Amgen and Horizon Therapeutics earlier this week.  

Viking, for its part, appears to be taking this news particularly poorly due to the company's rumored candidacy as a possible takeover target. In short, investors seem concerned that this adverse legal action by the FTC may slow down the recent wave of business development activity in biopharma.  

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Source Fool.com