Viking Therapeutics, Inc. Q3 2026 Earnings Recap

Viking’s shares rose 5.9% after earnings, with investors likely responding to progress toward Phase III testing of both injectable and oral VK2735 and positive maintenance-dosing data. The update also highlighted sharply higher R&D spending and a larger quarterly loss as the pipeline advances.

Key Takeaways

• Both injectable VK2735 Phase III VANQUISH trials are fully enrolled and advancing; the oral VK2735 SUNRISE Phase III program began earlier in October.
• In the injectable maintenance study, participants maintained the majority of their initial weight loss after switching to every-other-week or monthly dosing.
• Third-quarter R&D expense rose to $166.8 million from $90 million a year earlier; G&A increased to $20.3 million from $8.6 million.
• Quarterly net loss widened to $183.2 million, or $1.55 per share, from $90.8 million, or $0.81 per share.
• Viking reported $960 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments at September 30, including net proceeds from recent financing; it expects to complete the VK3019 Phase I single-ascending-dose study by year-end.