BUZZ-Weight-loss drug developers gain after Novo's obesity drug underperforms in study

** Shares of some weight-loss drug developers rise premarket, after Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO experimental next-generation obesity drug achieves lower weight loss than expected in a late-stage trial

** Novo says its drug, CagriSema, helped overweight patients cut their weight by 22.7%, below the 25% it had expected

** Shares of Viking Therapeutics VKTX.O up 11.5%, Structure Therapeutics GPCR.O up 7.1%, Altimmune ALT.O up 2.2% and Amgen AMGN.O climb 5.5% before the bell

** U.S.-listed shares of Novo fall 22.4%, while rival Eli Lilly LLY.N climbs 10%

** Investors and analysts had eagerly awaited this data as a test of Novo's case that it has a strong pipeline of drugs to follow Wegovy in the fiercely competitive anti-obesity market

** Lilly's obesity drug, sold as Zepbound in the U.S., led to an average weight loss of nearly 23% in clinical trials

** Up to last close, AMGN down 9.3%, GPCR down 26.5% and ALT down 27.3% YTD

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh)

((Christy.Santhosh@thomsonreuters.com))