Viking Wins First Round In Legal Battle With Ascletis Over THRβ Agonist

Both Firms Pursuing MASH Candidates

The US International Trade Commission looks set to ban the importation of Ascletis's THRβ agonist into the US for use in clinical trials due to an initial legal determination on potential infringement of trade secrets related to Viking's same-class candidate VK2809.

trade secrets
Viking lodged ITC action against Ascletis in 2022, alleging unlawful and unfair methods of competition • Source: Shutterstock

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. now looks poised to win the first round in a string of legal actions it has taken against Chinese firm Ascletis Pharma, Inc., in which the US biotech alleged infringement of trade secrets related to VK2809, a thyroid hormone receptor beta (THRβ) agonist it is developing for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH).

Key Takeaways
  • Ascletis has received an unfavorable initial decision from the US International Trade Commission in a trade secrets dispute with Viking.

  • The initial determination could eventually lead to a US ban on importation of Ascletis' THRβ agonist ASC41 and ASC43F, a fixed-dose combination of ASC41 and an FXR agonist, for clinical trial purposes

On 4 October, Hong Kong-listed Ascletis received an initial determination from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) which could eventually lead to a ban on the importation into the US of two of its drug candidates for clinical trial purposes, according

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