Shares of Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) were plunging 17.4% lower as of 11:52 a.m. ET on Thursday. This decline wasn't caused by an announcement by Viking. Instead, the sell-off appears to be related to Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) reporting results from a phase 1 study evaluating its experimental oral obesity drug amycretin.

Novo Nordisk revealed in an investor meeting on Thursday that patients receiving amycretin in its early-stage trial achieved an average weight loss of 13.1% after 12 weeks. This improvement matches the placebo-adjusted mean weight loss achieved by Viking's experimental obesity drug VK2735 in a phase 2 study. Viking announced those results last week.

Investors perceived Novo Nordisk's good news as potentially bad news for Viking. Why? VK2735 is administered subcutaneously, whereas amycretin is a pill. With similar efficacy results and greater convenience for patients, Novo Nordisk's drug could steal the thunder from VK2735.

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Source Fool.com