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Novartis Announces Trial Setback on Del-Desiran Drug
Novartis said the drug missed its primary endpoint, and shares fell as much as 10% in early Swiss trading.
On Tuesday, Novartis reported that an experimental drug failed a late-stage study, sending company shares down 10% in early trading.
The Phase III HARBOR study of the treatment, acquired in a $12 billion purchase of Avidity Biosciences, "did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement versus placebo" on its primary endpoint.
Novartis has missed two of three key pipeline readouts this year, including a drug readout James Eugene, an analyst at Verso Investment Management, described as a "must win."
Novartis maintained its sales guidance of 5% to 6% growth through 2030, even after shares fell more than 3% yesterday following another trial failure.
Shreeram Aradhye, Chief Medical Officer at Novartis, said developing therapies for DM1 remains challenging, noting that setbacks are part of scientific progress as the company navigates patent expiries for Entresto.
Novartis has suffered its second failure with an experimental drug in a week, after its drug del-desiran failed to show efficacy in a late-stage trial for myotonic dystrophy. Novartis shares fell 10 percent on the Swiss stock exchange this morning.