Viking Therapeutics, Inc.
June 6, 2017
SAN DIEGO, June 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (“Viking”) (NASDAQ: VKTX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel therapies for metabolic and endocrine disorders, today announced positive top line results from a study of VK2809 in an in vivo model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Data from this study demonstrated improvements across several key measures relevant to the development and progression of NASH. Animals receiving VK2809 experienced statistically significant improvements in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease activity score (NAS), liver collagen content, and liver fibrosis relative to vehicle-treated controls. NAS is a composite measure of disease activity which is comprised of steatosis, ballooning and inflammation. These results represent the first evidence of a thyromimetic agent providing histologic benefits in a NASH model, including an improvement in fibrosis.
The study was designed to evaluate VK2809 dosed orally (10 mg/kg/day) for eight weeks in a mouse model of diet-induced NASH.1 Control cohorts received either vehicle or active control (a metabolic-targeting agent currently in late-stage clinical development for NASH). Animals were biopsied prior to treatment to ensure disease characteristics consistent with the human form of disease, including the presence of fibrosis.