The Zhitong Finance App learned that Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis Pharmaceuticals (NVS.US) was hit by clinical trials again — within a week, the company's second major drug candidate collapsed in later studies. The loss this time was its potential star heart drug pelacarsen.
According to information, the drug does reduce lipoprotein (a) levels — a risk indicator for cardiovascular disease determined mainly by genetic factors, and affects about one-fifth of people. However, Novartis said late last Friday that despite a decrease in lipoprotein (a) levels, the drug did not significantly reduce cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks, or strokes compared to the placebo group.
This failure has dealt a heavy blow to the industry's expectations that the drug will open up new ways to prevent cardiovascular disease. Just a few days ago, Novartis temporarily halted an experimental cell therapy trial for autoimmune diseases due to the death of three patients.
Affected by this news, Novartis shares listed in the US once fell by more than 7% after regular trading ended last Friday. The stock price of AMGN.US (AMGN.US), which develops similar heart drugs, also fell nearly 6% after the market on Friday.
Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten pointed out, “This result makes the market question whether any treatment to lower lipoprotein (a) can ultimately bring cardiovascular clinical benefits.” However, he also said that the negative reaction from the market may have been exaggerated, because even if the trial is successful, it will still raise questions about which patients can actually benefit and how the drug competes with competing products.
Novartis is hoping to support growth with a range of new drugs to cope with the pressure that patents for many of its major products are about to expire. CEO Vas Narasimhan has said that if the post-test results are ideal, the company is expected to raise the forecast for a 5% to 6% increase in sales in the year before 2030.
Novartis's next high-profile R&D node is an experimental injectable drug designed to treat DM1 (a type of muscle atrophy disease) at the genetic level, rather than just relieve symptoms. The treatment is called Del-Desiran, and it is also the core asset of Novartis's acquisition of Avidity for $12 billion.
The significance of these two losses is not limited to a single drug. Novartis previously positioned both pelacarsen and rapcabtagene autoleucel (rap-cel for short) as potential breakthroughs in reshaping treatment patterns in their respective fields — the former targets hereditary cardiovascular risk that could not be interfered with before, while the latter expanded CAR-T cell therapy to the field of autoimmune diseases.
Notably, Pelacarsen's loss came against Novartis's mixed feelings last week: at the time, another of the company's experimental treatments actually delivered on promise and brought a hint of comfort. Its multiple sclerosis oral medication, remibrutinib, was successful in two late-stage trials, boosting the company's stock price by more than 6% on Tuesday.
Novartis has yet to release detailed data on the failure of the pelacarsen trial, including how close the drug is to reaching the main end point and whether certain subgroups of patients have benefited more. The company said full results will be revealed at an upcoming medical conference.