November 2, 2026 · By Joe Zucchi, PA-C, MPAS
6 slides · Download the complete original PDF.
A six-slide overview of VK2735, covering injectable and oral Phase 2 results, exploratory maintenance dosing, dose-specific tolerability and Phase 3 programs.
Study source: Published VENTURE trial ↗
Study source: VENTURE-Oral ECO 2026 presentation ↗
Study source: Exploratory maintenance study, sponsor results ↗
Study source: October 28 development update ↗
Study references and evidence-status notes are preserved in the original slides.
A November 2026 overview of 12 investigational obesity therapies, spanning amylin-based treatments, GLP-1/GIP pathways, glucagon-containing combinations, and GLP-1 receptor agonists.
A visual summary of sponsor-reported 80-week Phase 3 TRANSCEND-T2D-2 results comparing retatrutide with semaglutide 2 mg in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Explore amylin biology and clinical trial results for cagrilintide, CagriSema, petrelintide, zenagamtide (amycretin), and eloralintide in obesity medicine.
VK2735 is showing encouraging weight-loss results with both an injection and a tablet. The maintenance data may be just as interesting.
Viking Therapeutics, Inc. is developing this dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist in both formulations.
Here’s a look at the data:
🔹 Weekly injection
In the published Phase 2 VENTURE trial, 15 mg produced 14.7% mean weight loss at 13 weeks versus 1.7% with placebo.
🔹 Daily tablet
In Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral, the group escalating to 120 mg daily reached 12.2% mean weight loss at 13 weeks versus 1.3% with placebo. Seven weeks were spent at the top dose.
The trials enrolled 176 and 280 adults, respectively, with overweight or obesity without diabetes. These are model-estimated efficacy results from separate studies, not a head-to-head comparison.
🔹 Maintenance dosing
After 21 weeks of weekly injections, small Phase 1 cohorts transitioned to less-frequent injections for another 12 weeks.
Across individual dose groups, participants retained:
83–97% of prior weight loss with every-other-week dosing.
82–90% with every-four-week dosing.
61% after switching to placebo.
That measures how much of the initial weight loss was retained.
These are early findings from small groups, but they raise an important question about how we might maintain a response with less-frequent treatment.
🔹 Tolerability
GI events were common and mostly mild or moderate.
Adverse-event-related treatment discontinuation ranged from 3–20% across injectable dose groups versus 0% with placebo, and 5–30% across oral dose groups versus 13% with placebo. These arms had 35 and 40 participants each, respectively.
During the exploratory maintenance period, GI-event rates were reported as similar to placebo.
🔹 What’s next?
Both formulations are now in Phase 3: VANQUISH is evaluating weekly injections over 78 weeks, and SUNRISE daily tablets over 68 weeks. A separate study is testing oral maintenance after weekly injections.
In addition to efficacy, the interesting part is the potential to offer patients more flexibility using the same molecule for initial treatment and maintenance. Longer studies still need to establish durability and safety.
#ObesityMedicine #VK2735 #GLP1 #GIP