Viking Therapeutics could be a new winner in the GLP-1 space
GLP-1 weight-loss drugs have taken the pharmaceutical world by storm, Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Eli Lilly (LLY) making a name for the class of drugs through their own landmark brands. But what about the other pharma players pushing into the weight-loss space? Julie Hyman is joined by RSE Ventures Co-Founder and CEO Matt Higgins for the latest installment of Good Buy or Goodbye to talk about why he is bullish on Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) in its GLP-1 innovations, and why he is bearish on glucose monitoring device manufacturer DexCom (DXCM) as more consumers adopt weight-loss drugs to lower the riskssof diabetes. "We all know what Eli Lilly, and what Novartis has done. But it's a massive TAM [total addressable market], it's a $150 billion market. And this is a biotechnology firm, probably like 30 people, and they are onto something pretty amazing," Higgins says about Viking. "They are working on two products: one is a shot that you would take once a month, and the other is a pill, which is the holy grail and early studies show that it's being very well tolerated." Higgins cites the growing use cases for GLP-1s, particularly in the treatment of pre-diabetic patients, as a forceful headwind to DexCom. Its glucose monitoring devices are only designed for a single sort of use and does not allow DexCom to pivot very far from its central business. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Market Domination. This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.