aibioViking Therapeutics agrees to $150 million in prepayments to CordenPharma for VK2735 supply
Tickers VKTX
Viking Therapeutics' Irish subsidiary agreed on March 10, 2025 to make prepayments to CordenPharma for supply of its obesity candidate VK2735. The 8-K puts the prepayments at $90.0 million through 2028, and the press release gives a $150 million total. This is money Viking pays out, not money it raises, and neither document gives a cash balance against which to test it.
Key facts
- Company
- Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VKTX)
- News type
- Financings
- Primary source
- Viking Therapeutics, Inc. Form 8-K filed March 11, 2025 (SEC EDGAR)
Viking Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: VKTX) said on March 11, 2025 that its Irish subsidiary had signed manufacturing and supply agreements with CordenPharma for VK2735, and that Viking agreed to make prepayments to the manufacturer. The company reported the agreements in a Form 8-K filed March 11, 2025 under the 8-K item for creating a direct financial obligation.
The supply agreement
On March 10, 2025, Viking Therapeutics Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, signed a Strategic Manufacturing and Supply Agreement with Corden Pharma Schweizerhalle GmbH, Corden Pharma GmbH and Corden Pharma Colorado, Inc., together called CordenPharma. CordenPharma will manufacture and supply VK2735 and other pharmaceutical materials, called API, including for clinical trials. Viking Ireland must order a minimum quantity of API over about four years after commercial launch, and a minimum share of its commercial API needs for three years. The price is set by negotiation, subject to a maximum that falls as Viking Ireland orders certain minimum quantities.
CordenPharma agreed to dedicate an entire manufacturing line to Viking Ireland. The initial term is eight years, with automatic three-year renewals unless a party gives notice or the other side commits an uncured material breach.
A second contract, a Fill and Finish Agreement, covers finished product with Corden Pharma GmbH, Corden Pharma Lisbon S.A. and Corden Pharma S.p.A. Viking Ireland must order a designated minimum percentage of its commercial needs for three years after FDA or comparable foreign approval of a product containing the API.
The prepayments
A Prepayment Agreement, effective March 10, 2025, requires Viking Ireland to prepay CordenPharma for API. The 8-K puts the amount at $90.0 million in total during 2025 to 2028, plus an additional amount in 2028 for key starting and other raw materials. Each prepayment depends on CordenPharma meeting certain milestones. Before any prepayment, CordenPharma must grant Viking Ireland a security interest in its Plankstadt facility, and it may have to post more collateral. CordenPharma then credits a percentage of each API invoice until the credits equal the prepayments.
The press release gives a larger figure, prepayments totaling $150 million from 2025 to 2028, in exchange for dedicated API and fill and finish capacity, with prepayments credited against future orders. The 8-K and the release do not reconcile the $90.0 million with the $150 million.
What Viking says it gets
The release says Viking secured dedicated capacity for multiple metric tons of VK2735 API a year. It also cites fill and finish capacity for 100 million autoinjectors and another 100 million vial and syringe products a year for the subcutaneous form, plus more than one billion oral tablets a year. Viking says the capacity can be expanded at its option and that it keeps all global rights to VK2735. Chief Executive Officer Brian Lian, Ph.D., said the company has a long history with CordenPharma and is extending that relationship.
The drug behind the contracts
VK2735 is a dual agonist of the GLP-1 and GIP receptors. The release says the oral tablet is in the Phase 2 VENTURE-Oral Dosing trial, dosed once daily for 13 weeks, and that Viking plans to start Phase 3 development of the subcutaneous form in the second quarter of 2025. The capacity Viking is reserving therefore rests on Phase 3 work that has not yet begun, and the release gives no efficacy results from the trial it describes.
Who signed, and who is named
The release names Brian Lian, Ph.D., as chief executive officer and Greg Zante as chief financial officer. The 8-K and the release name no placement agent, underwriter or lender for these agreements, and the filings name no counsel.
What the filings leave out
The 8-K and the release give no Viking cash balance, net loss or annual schedule of the prepayments, and no milestone amounts. Under the Fill and Finish Agreement, Viking Ireland may also elect to make separate Product Prepayments to reserve capacity for the injectable product; the 8-K ties that amount to the volume ordered and does not state it. Neither document says how the $90.0 million and $150 million figures relate to each other, or what Viking will pay per unit.