Novartis Cholesterol Drug Pelacarsen Fails Key Study, Shares Plummet

Novartis shares plummeted more than 3% on Monday after its cholesterol-lowering drug pelacarsen failed in a large, late-stage study. Analysts had predicted that the drug could reach peak annual sales of between $3 billion and $6 billion if it proved successful.

The setback casts uncertainty over Novartis' plans to drive growth with its emerging heart disease drugs. The company had been counting on pelacarsen, remibrutinib, and del-desiran to offset patent expiries on older blockbusters like Entresto.

While investors were buoyed by the success of another Novartis drug, remibrutinib, in treating multiple sclerosis patients last week, the failure of pelacarsen raises pressure on upcoming data from a late-stage study of del-desiran. Del-desiran is an RNA therapy for a rare muscle disease acquired through Novartis' $12 billion purchase of Avidity.

Amgen and Eli Lilly are running their own late-stage trials of rival experimental medicines, olpasiran and lepodisiran, which target lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), an inherited cardiovascular risk factor with no approved treatments. Analysts note that these rival therapies could work where Novartis' failed, as they have shown more effective cholesterol-lowering properties in previous studies.