Vivani Medical Stock Skyrockets as It Enters the GLP-1 Arena

The Ozempic craze continues to make headlines in the medical industry, and GLP-1 drug stocks continue to rise. Shares of producers Ozempic and Wegovy Novo Nordisk A/S NYSE: NVO they have already increased by 20% year to date (YTD). Creator of Mounjaro and Zepbound Eli Lilly & Co. NYSE: LLY shares are up 34% year to date. Companies that are still in clinical trials to compete with Ozempic are also growing.

Viking Therapeutics Positive Phase 2 Results Shares Rise 80%

Shares of Viking Therapeutics Inc. NASDAQ: VKTX are up 357% year-to-date after increasing 80% over Phase 2 clinical trial data for VK2735, a GLIP-1 and GIP dual agonist similar to Mounjaro. The maximum dose of 15 mg resulted in weight loss of 14.7% of body weight at week 13. Tolerability was favorable, with only 13% treatment discontinuations and 20% for the maximum dose. The placebo had a 14% discontinuation.

Viking Therapeutics gets a $116 price target.

Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and raised its price target to $116 on February 28, 2024.

Analyst Jay Olson commented, “VKTX is planning to meet with the FDA mid-year and is currently planning another Ph2b study as a next step. Given the promising results, we believe VKTX has multiple options to explore additional dosing regimens and optimize further the safety/efficacy profile and improve the patient experience.” VKTX shares rose to $99.41 after the update.

Viking Launches $550 Million Secondary Offering

Viking has set a stock offering price of $550 on February 29, 2024. The underwriters have been granted a 30-day option to purchase an additional 970,650 shares of VKTX common stock. The proceeds will be used to continue development of its pipeline, including VK2809, VK2735 and VK0214. Check the heat map of the sector on MarketBeat.

All these above drugs are based on GLP-1 and injectable once a week.

Vivani Medical jumps on the GLP-1 bandwagon

A small stock soared more than 700% on news of its Ozempic-like drug administered twice a year via a miniature implant. Vivani Medical Inc. NASDAQ: VANI is a “near-clinical” stage biotech that leverages its NanoPortal technology, a miniature implant, to deliver drugs consistently over extended periods. The company was previously Second Sight Medical Products, maker of the Argus II retinal implant system, which merged with Nano Precision Medical and was renamed Vivani Medical Products. The company issued a press release on February 28, 2024, promoting its GLP-1 treatment NPM-115, which produced a 20% reduction in body weight comparable to Ozempic/Wegovy. Only the newspaper headlines increased the shares. The timely press release caused shares to rise from $1.01 the previous day to gap to $3.51, rising to $7.80 intraday.

Is the company a contender or a pretender?

Vivani reported positive preclinical data on weight loss NPM-115 implantation in obese rats. They weren’t just any rats; they were healthy Sprague-Dawley rats. As crude as it may seem, animal testing on rodents is standard practice in preclinical drug development. The FDA requires comprehensive testing of the safety and effectiveness of new drugs before any human trials are approved. Apparently there have been many studies done on the effects of GLP-1 on mice. However, companies like Viking Therapeutics report their results from human trials, not rats. However, they are in phase 2 clinical trials while Vivani is still in the preclinical phase.

Is Vivani an opportunist or trying to grab money?

Taking a cue from Viking Therapeutics, Vivani capitalized on the surge in its stock price. On March 1, 2024, Vivani announced a $15 million registered direct offering. It had entered into a stock purchase agreement with an institutional investor to purchase 3,947,358 shares of common stock and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 3,947,368 million shares of common stock at $3.80 and exercisable at $3.80 in a direct offer. The offering closes on March 5, 2024. The shares have since fallen to $3.07.

Adam Mendelsohn, CEO of Vivani Medical, commented: “In response to the enormous medical need and unprecedented market demand, we are prioritizing the development of our GLP-1 implants for the treatment of obesity and chronic weight management “.

He added: “Since a high-dose GLP-1 implant for obesity would likely also be able to address our previous focus on type 2 diabetes, the compelling weight loss data recently generated from NPM-115 naturally supports a shift in focus to an indication with even broader potential. We believe that the key benefits expected from our patented NanoPortal™ implant technology, improved drug adherence and tolerability, have the potential to transform and advance the adoption of GLP-1 therapy in the future.”

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