The company is the latest facing historic losses as pharmaceutical firms compete to develop a weight-loss pill.

Viking Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: VKTX) reported new clinical data for its oral obesity drug – sending shares sharply lower as investors balked at tolerability concerns and dropout rates. The Phase 2 trial showed promising weight loss results,

Viking Therapeutics said Tuesday its experimental weight-loss pill helped patients lose 12.2% of their body weight in a mid-stage trial, missing Wall Street's top-end expectations of 15% and sending its shares plummeting by 41%.