Biotechnology Starts 2024: A Golden Year on the Stock Market

The year 2024 was a remarkable year for the stock market, particularly for some emerging companies in the pharmaceutical industry. The stocks of the start-ups Viking Therapeutics and Summit Therapeutics experienced an impressive surge and more than doubled in value. On Wall Street, quick gains are often short-lived, but analysts at investment banks monitoring these stocks are optimistic about their future development. Justin Zelin from BTIG predicts an increase for Viking Therapeutics shares to $125 per share, corresponding to an additional gain of about 166% in the coming year. Mohit Bansal from Wells Fargo recently set a price target of $30 for Summit Therapeutics, which implies a potential increase of 68%. From the end of 2023 to December 12, 2024, Viking Therapeutics’ stock rose by 157%. If the experimental weight-loss treatment currently being tested in clinical trials continues to prove effective, the stock value could double again. Viking Therapeutics, which does not yet have any approved drugs, places great hopes on its candidate VK2735. This dual GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonist could become a leading product in the field of weight management, similar to Eli Lilly's tirzepatide. The FDA initially approved tirzepatide for diabetes treatment and in late 2023 also for weight management. Summit Therapeutics’ shares also benefited significantly, especially after the company licensed a new cancer immunotherapy that appears superior to the successful drug Keytruda. The drug Ivonescimab, a bispecific antibody, shows promising results in studies and seems to block both the PD-1 and VEGF pathways simultaneously, leading to better results in clinical trials than Keytruda.