Viking Therapeutics enters the back half of 2026 holding $502 million in cash and two fully enrolled Phase 3 trials, which means the next meaningful test of its obesity franchise is no longer about enrollment mechanics but about whether the efficacy signal seen in earlier work holds at scale. The Phase 2 VENTURE study produced up to 14.7% mean body weight reduction after just 13 weekly subcutaneous doses of VK2735 with no sign of plateau, a profile that earned the program a fast path into registration-stage work. VANQUISH-1 closed enrollment at roughly 4,500 patients by November 2025, and VANQUISH-2 wrapped in Q1 2026 with approximately 1,000 patients. Both are 78-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies, and both are proceeding on schedule.
The more strategically consequential milestone arrives before year-end. Viking plans to start Phase 3 trials of the oral tablet formulation of VK2735 in the fourth quarter. Context matters here: the FDA approved an oral semaglutide pill for obesity in December 2025, making it the first oral GLP-1 medicine cleared for weight management in the U.S. That approval establishes a benchmark and a competitive ceiling VK2735 must clear. Viking argues, and the source supports, that no other dual or triple GLP-1/GIP agonist is currently available in both oral and injectable formulations, and that oral VK2735 is positioned to potentially become the first oral dual GLP-1/GIP agonist to reach the market. That is a narrower, durable claim, and it is the one worth anchoring the oral program’s differentiation story to.
Beyond the two lead trials, Viking is running a maintenance dosing study designed to characterize monthly and every-other-week regimens after initial weight loss, with top-line data expected before the end of Q3 2026. That readout matters clinically because long-term weight management requires individualized dosing strategies, and a clear maintenance profile strengthens the argument for VK2735 in real-world practice. The company also initiated a Phase 1 study of VK3019, an amylin receptor agonist, during Q2. Amylin-based mechanisms work through pathways distinct from GLP-1 and GIP signaling, so VK3019 functions as a pipeline diversification move rather than a backup to VK2735.
The single result to watch in the near term is the maintenance dosing readout, expected this quarter. It will be the first glimpse of VK2735’s durability profile outside the acute dosing window, and it directly informs how Viking positions the subcutaneous program against the existing injectable standard, represented by tirzepatide, which received FDA approval for chronic weight management in November 2023. If the maintenance data show robust weight preservation at monthly dosing intervals, the program’s commercial logic becomes substantially cleaner ahead of the VANQUISH readouts expected in 2027.
Jon Napitupulu is Director of Media Relations at The Clinical Trial Vanguard. Jon, a computer data scientist, focuses on the latest clinical trial industry news and trends.
