Gathering the record
Relay is organizing the evidence and source boundaries.
Dual GIP / GLP-1 receptor agonist
VK2735 is an investigational dual GIP/GLP-1 agonist being developed as both a weekly injection and daily tablet. The 13-week VENTURE injection trial produced large early weight reductions, while longer Phase 3 durability and outcomes remain unknown.
60-Second Overview
Start with what it is, why it matters, what research has shown, and what remains unknown. The science follows after the orientation.
Start here. These four answers explain why the compound matters before the page introduces the deeper science.
VK2735 is an investigational medicine designed to influence two gut-hormone signals involved in appetite and blood-sugar regulation. Injectable and oral versions are being developed separately.
Researchers want to know whether this dual-signal approach can produce durable weight changes and whether a daily tablet can eventually reproduce findings from the weekly injection program.
A peer-reviewed 13-week Phase 2 injection trial reported large early average weight reductions in adults with obesity. An oral program also produced a sponsor-reported signal, but its evidence is less mature and cannot be treated as interchangeable with the injection.
Seventy-eight-week Phase 3 outcomes, cardiovascular effects, rare harms, long-term maintenance, oral confirmation, and direct comparisons remain unresolved. VK2735 is not approved, and trial formulations do not validate research-market products.
The research depth, routes, studies, and primary sources below explain how Relay knows—and where the evidence stops.
Research context
Published research has investigated this compound using the following study designs.
These records explain what researchers did. They are not instructions, recommendations, or a transferable protocol.
A peer-reviewed Phase 2 trial investigated the injectable form of VK2735 in adults with obesity over a short early efficacy period.
Reported study administration—not a recommendation.
Research at a glance
Evidence depth, confidence, and route context explain how Relay knows—not what anyone should do.
Peer-reviewed short Phase 2 injection evidence is joined by oral data and active 78-week Phase 3 trials.
Research depth describes how large and mature the overall record is. It does not tell you whether the results were positive.
The 13-week signal is controlled; durability, oral confirmation, outcomes, and rare events remain open.
Confidence describes how reliable and consistent the conclusions are. It can be high for one outcome and low for another.
The strongest evidence type shows what the best-supported conclusions are actually based on.
Human findings are more directly relevant than animal or laboratory results, but they still apply only to the populations and outcomes studied.
Route-specific record
These are exposures used in cited research for a specific route and population—not an instruction for an individual.
Half-life describes how long it takes the measured amount in the body to fall by half. It is not a dosing recommendation.
Evidence can change by administration method. Findings from one route should not automatically be applied to another.
Evidence boundary: Thirteen weeks is too short to establish durability, maintenance, uncommon harms, or cardiovascular outcomes. The injection findings cannot be transferred to the oral formulation or independently sourced material. Amounts shown describe cited research exposure—not a dosage recommendation.
Detailed evidence
Start with the strongest supported conclusion and its main uncertainty. Claim-level records below show how the evidence changes by question, population, route, formulation, and study design.
A peer-reviewed randomized 176-participant Phase 2 subcutaneous obesity trial, with additional sponsor-reported oral Phase 2 results and active large Phase 3 trials.
This is the strongest supported conclusion in the current human evidence—not a summary of every claim made about the compound.
Seventy-eight-week durability and safety, Phase 3 completion, cardiovascular outcomes, comparative efficacy, oral formulation confirmation, rare events, and weight maintenance.
Keeping the main uncertainty visible prevents an early or promising finding from looking more settled than it is.
Questions people bring to the evidence
Research questions—not promises of benefit.
Its receptor class resembles tirzepatide, but it is a distinct investigational molecule with its own evidence record.
All active doses significantly reduced weight versus placebo, with the largest mean reduction reaching 14.7% from baseline.
Encouraging short-term tolerability does not establish long-term safety.
The sponsor reported up to 12.2% mean reduction at 13 weeks, pending fuller independent and peer-reviewed confirmation.
These trials should clarify durability, type 2 diabetes performance, and a broader safety profile.
Early high weight-loss percentages should not be converted into expected long-term personal results.
A tablet and an injectable require different absorption, stability, manufacturing, and quality controls.
Mechanisms
VK2735 is a dual agonist at GIPR and GLP-1R. In the peer-reviewed 176-participant VENTURE Phase 2 trial, 13 weekly subcutaneous doses produced mean weight reductions up to 14.7% from baseline and up to 13.1 percentage points versus placebo, with no plateau observed during the short trial. Gastrointestinal events were common but mostly mild or moderate. A separate 13-week oral Phase 2 program later reported dose-dependent mean reductions up to 12.2%, but those results were sponsor-reported and not yet equivalent to a full peer-reviewed pivotal record. The VANQUISH-1 and VANQUISH-2 Phase 3 trials are evaluating weekly subcutaneous VK2735 for 78 weeks. No approval, long-term cardiovascular outcome, maintenance, or head-to-head comparative result exists.
A plausible mechanism can explain why a study was attempted. It does not prove that the compound improves a human outcome.
Studies
Study arms are reported for transparency. They describe what researchers did in a defined record and do not transfer across identities, routes, formulations, or populations.
A later trial phase can ask a more mature question, but it does not guarantee a positive result, regulatory approval, or relevance outside the studied population.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-ranging trial
Adults with obesity
Mean weight reduction reached 14.7% from baseline and 13.1 percentage points versus placebo at the highest studied response, with no plateau during 13 weeks.
Study administration: Once-weekly subcutaneous VK2735 dose groups or placebo
Limitations: Thirteen weeks is too short to establish durability, long-term tolerability, maintenance, or cardiovascular outcomes.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled dose-finding trial
Adults with obesity
The sponsor reported dose-dependent mean weight reductions up to 12.2% at 13 weeks.
Study administration: Once-daily oral VK2735 dose groups or placebo
Limitations: The result was sponsor-reported and had not matured into a peer-reviewed pivotal publication at the cutoff.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 78-week trial
Adults with obesity or overweight plus a comorbidity
VANQUISH-1 is testing longer-term efficacy and safety in a much larger pivotal population.
Study administration: Once-weekly subcutaneous VK2735 dose groups or placebo
Limitations: No completed Phase 3 results were available.
Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled 78-week trial
Adults with obesity or overweight and type 2 diabetes
VANQUISH-2 is the dedicated pivotal test in type 2 diabetes.
Study administration: Once-weekly subcutaneous VK2735 dose groups or placebo
Limitations: No completed efficacy or safety results were available.
Randomized single- and multiple-ascending-dose study
Healthy adults with increased body mass index
Early studies supported prolonged subcutaneous exposure and dose-dependent weight signals for both formulations.
Study administration: Subcutaneous and oral VK2735 formulations or placebo
Limitations: Small early-phase cohorts and exploratory weight endpoints cannot establish clinical efficacy.
Safety snapshot
Most reported VENTURE adverse events were mild or moderate, with gastrointestinal events common.
Controlled human evidenceThe sample was modest and exposure lasted only 13 weeks.
Open sourceMost reported VENTURE adverse events were mild or moderate, with gastrointestinal events common.
Controlled human evidenceThe stated frequency is source-, product-, population-, route-, dose-, comparator-, and duration-specific; it is not a universal incidence estimate.
Open sourceNo source-qualified compound-specific warning or contraindication is encoded in the current record.
Evidence boundaryInvestigational; subcutaneous Phase 3 and oral development Seventy-eight-week durability and safety, Phase 3 completion, cardiovascular outcomes, comparative efficacy, oral formulation confirmation, rare events, and weight maintenance.
The current record does not identify a reliable compound-specific pattern of events that caused study discontinuation.
Evidence boundaryThis is an evidence gap, not proof that discontinuations did not occur.
No compound-specific patient-facing urgent-action threshold is established in the current Relay record.
Evidence boundaryRelay does not infer emergency guidance from study discontinuations, mechanism, or incomplete adverse-event reporting.
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