Why Viking Therapeutics Stock Plummeted by 24% in December

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) didn't exactly capture investors' hearts in the final month of 2024. The biotech company's share price eroded by 24% in December, primarily on the back of a rival's aggressive move into a potentially very lucrative segment of the pharmaceutical market.That rival is a large and determined one: global pharmaceutical incumbent Merck (NYSE: MRK).In mid-December, Merck announced it had entered into a licensing deal with China-based biotech Hansoh Pharma for that company's investigational weight-loss drug. If developed successfully, the drug, labeled HS-10535, would surely pose a serious threat to Viking's No. 1 pipeline program, VK2735. This, too, is an obesity drug; it has tested well in clinical trials and is relatively advanced in its development process.Continue readingWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei MotleyFool