Viking Therapeutics priced a combined equity and convertible-debt offering that brought in $575 million of gross proceeds, a week after the company released maintenance-trial data that supported its dual-formulation strategy for the obesity candidate VK2735. The biotech sold shares at $35 each for about $316 million and issued $258.75 million of convertible senior notes, giving it a cash infusion that management says extends its runway while four phase 3 programs move in parallel.
The pipeline is expensive and getting more so
Viking is running two 78-week subcutaneous phase 3 studies, Vanquish-1 in obesity and Vanquish-2 in adults with type 2 diabetes and obesity, and has just started two 68-week oral phase 3 studies, Sunrise-1 and Sunrise-2, covering the same indications. A second maintenance cohort, which follows a 21-week subcutaneous lead-in with 12 weeks of oral maintenance dosing, is also underway. Wall Street consensus compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence projects cash burn lasting at least through 2030, and the company has no revenue to offset it.
The amylin option adds another cash sink
Beyond the GLP-1/GIP agonist, Viking is developing VK3019, an amylin agonist intended for patients who cannot tolerate GLP-1 therapy or who might combine the two mechanisms. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are advancing their own amylin programs, so the competitive pressure to keep VK3019 moving is real. The new capital is meant to fund both the VK2735 franchise and the earlier-stage amylin work without forcing a choice between them.
The data calendar now drives the valuation
Investors are focused on the second maintenance cohort, which tests oral VK2735 as a maintenance regimen and is seen as the more consequential readout for the dual-formulation thesis. Those results are expected in 2027, the same year Vanquish-1 and Vanquish-2 are slated to report, while the oral pivotal trials Sunrise-1 and Sunrise-2 likely land in 2028. Chief Financial Officer Greg Zante said in July that existing guidance showed cash into 2028; the $575 million raise pushes that horizon further and covers potential commercial preparation if the phase 3 data deliver.