VK2735 is Viking Therapeutics' dual agonist of the GIP and GLP-1 receptors — the same two-receptor mechanism as tirzepatide — developed in both a once-weekly subcutaneous injection and an oral tablet. It has become a fixture of peptide and physique communities, discussed and sold on the gray market as a 'research' compound long before it can be approved. The spike in attention is driven by a run of 2026 readouts and the anticipation of pivotal data, not by any regulatory clearance.
On the injectable side, the phase 2 VENTURE study reported mean weight loss of up to about 14.7% after 13 weekly doses, with adverse events mostly mild-to-moderate and gastrointestinal, occurring early and subsiding. On the strength of that, Viking moved to the phase 3 VANQUISH program: VANQUISH-1 (approximately 4,500 adults with obesity) completed enrollment in November 2025, and VANQUISH-2 (roughly 1,000 adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes) finished enrolling in early 2026. Both are 78-week, placebo-controlled trials testing 7.5 mg, 12.5 mg and 17.5 mg weekly, with topline data still ahead.
The oral tablet is what pushed VK2735 back into the feeds this year. In the 13-week phase 2 VENTURE-Oral trial (280 adults) presented at the European Congress on Obesity in May 2026, the highest 120 mg dose produced 12.2% mean weight loss (about 26.6 lbs) versus 1.3% for placebo, and 80% of that group lost at least 10% of body weight. The company plans to begin an oral phase 3 program in the fourth quarter of 2026.
The honest trade-off: these are phase 2 results plus in-progress phase 3 trials, not an approval, and the injectable and oral programs are at different stages. Absolute weight loss to date sits below the triple-agonist front-runners, and 13-week figures are not directly comparable to the 68–80 week endpoints that define the approved drugs. Critically, none of this validates the gray-market 'VK2735' sold as a research peptide — those products carry no assurance of identity, dose or sterility, and are not the studied drug.