Health
Obesity Pill Data Signal Competition, Hit Drugmaker Shares
- Patients on Viking drug shed 6.8% of body weight in 28 days
- Astra’s pill helps patients with diabetes lose 5.8% of weight
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Obesity pill data released by Viking Therapeutics Inc. and AstraZeneca Plc at a big conference foreshadowed an increasingly competitive landscape for weight-loss therapies, sending down shares of drugmakers in the field.
Viking shares fell 13% Monday, their biggest loss since March, after Astra presented data on its pill that showed similar weight-loss benefits. Shares of obesity-shot makers Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk A/S dipped, while Astra’s closed in London with little change.