Novartis shares down as failed cholesterol drug study increases pipeline pressure

LONDON, Sept 7 — Shares of Novartis fell ​3.3% on Monday morning after its cholesterol drug failed in ‌a closely watched study, casting fresh doubt ⁠on the ​therapeutic approach and ⁠raising the stakes for the ‌Swiss drugmaker's ‌upcoming data for a gene therapy.

Late ⁠on Friday, ⁠Novartis said its drug pelacarsen did not cut heart attack and stroke risk in a large, late-stage study of patients ‌with high Lp(a), ​an inherited, cholesterol-related risk factor with no approved targeted treatments.

The failure raises the bar for rival Lp(a)-lowering drugs from Amgen and Eli Lilly, both running late-stage trials. ​It also increases the ‌pressure on ‌data ⁠from an experimental muscular dystrophy drug del-desiran, which Novartis spent $12 billion to acquire last year.

Analysts had ‌modeled peak annual ​sales between $3 billion ‌and $6 billion for ⁠pelacarsen.

(Reporting ​by Bhanvi Satija; Editing by Joe ​Bavier)

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