Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VNDA) dropped some interesting news Monday about a drug that could make weight-loss medications a lot more tolerable. The company released topline results from its clinical study evaluating tradipitant as a way to prevent the nausea and vomiting that often comes with Novo Nordisk's (NVO) Wegovy.
Here's what happened in the trial, which involved 116 healthy but overweight or obese adults: Only 29.3% of people taking tradipitant experienced vomiting (17 out of 58 participants) compared to 58.6% on placebo (34 out of 58). That's a 50% relative reduction in vomiting—the kind of result that gets people's attention.
The study also hit its key secondary endpoint. When looking at participants who experienced both vomiting and significant nausea, the tradipitant group came in at 22.4% (13 out of 58) versus 48.3% on placebo (28 out of 58). Safety-wise, tradipitant's profile looked consistent with previous studies, with no new red flags popping up.
Why Analysts Are Getting Excited
B Riley published an investor note Tuesday that framed this as potentially much bigger than just another clinical win. "While we believe this opens a potential blockbuster opportunity in GLP-1 supportive care that is not yet in our model, more immediately, it incrementally de-risks the pending motion sickness PDUFA (12/30/25)," the firm wrote.
Analyst Madison El-Saadi pointed out that when you combine this with the bysanti approval decision expected in the first quarter of 2026 for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Vanda's current valuation looks "increasingly disconnected from Vanda's execution momentum and near-term catalyst density." B Riley maintains a Buy rating with an $11 price target.
H.C. Wainwright went even more bullish on Wednesday, emphasizing that the trial conditions were deliberately tough. "From our vantage point, these data appear robust and clinically meaningful. We draw investors' attention to the fact that in this trial, patients were administered a very high dose of Wegovy without a titration period—this clearly set a high bar to overcome for tradipitant in attenuating the side effects of the drug," the firm noted.
Analyst Raghuram Selvaraju suggests Vanda could partner with one of the current GLP-1 drug marketers to maximize tradipitant's value. H.C. Wainwright has a Buy rating and a $20 price target.
Not everyone's quite as enthusiastic. Jefferies analyst Andrew Tsai acknowledged the potential but stayed cautious: "Positioned as an adjunct therapy, tradipitant could potentially improve GLP-1's relatively poor adherence (30%-50% discontinuation rates). We are curious how the benefits evolve upon longer dosing." Jefferies maintains a Hold rating with a $5 price target.
Vanda Pharmaceuticals stock was down 4.97% at $4.88 on Thursday at publication.
