Setbacks twice in one week! Novartis AG Sponsored ADR (NVS.US) faced a major failure in the Phase III trial of its heart disease blockbuster drug, causing a significant drop in stock price, and Amgen (AMGN.US) "caught collateral damage."

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG Sponsored ADR (NVS.US) has faced another setback in its clinical trialswithin a week, the companys second major candidate drug has failed in late-stage studies. The latest disappointment involves its potential star heart disease medication, pelacarsen. It is understood that the drug did indeed lower lipoprotein(a) levelsa key risk marker for cardiovascular diseases largely determined by genetic factors, affecting about one in five people. However, Novartis AG Sponsored ADR stated late last Friday that despite the decrease in lipoprotein(a) levels, the drug did not significantly reduce cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke events compared to the placebo group. This failure has severely impacted industry expectations that the drug could pave a new way for cardiovascular disease prevention. Just days prior, Novartis AG Sponsored ADR had temporarily halted a clinical trial for an experimental cell therapy targeting autoimmune diseases after three patient fatalities. In response to this news, Novartis AG Sponsored ADR's stocks on the US market fell more than 7% after regular trading last Friday. The shares of Amgen (AMGN.US), which is developing similar heart medications, also dropped nearly 6% in after-hours trading on the same day. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. analyst Michael Leuchten noted, This result raises doubts in the market about whether any therapy that lowers lipoprotein(a) can ultimately deliver clinical benefits for cardiovascular health. However, he also stated that the markets negative reaction might be overstated, because even if the trial had succeeded, it would still raise questions about which patients would truly benefit and how the drug would compete with others. Novartis AG Sponsored ADR is pinning its hopes on a series of new drugs to sustain growth amid the pressure of multiple blockbuster products nearing patent expiration. CEO Vas Narasimhan has indicated that if the later-stage trial results are promising, the company could raise its sales growth forecast for 2030 to 5% to 6% year-on-year. The next key R&D milestone for Novartis AG Sponsored ADR is an experimental injectable drug aimed at genetically treating DM1 (a muscle-wasting disease), rather than just alleviating symptoms. This therapy, named del-desiran, is also the core asset acquired by Novartis AG Sponsored ADR through its $12 billion purchase of Avidity. The implications of these two failures extend beyond a single drug. Novartis AG Sponsored ADR previously positioned both pelacarsen and rapcabtagene autoleucel (rap-cel) as potential breakthrough therapies reshaping their respective treatment landscapesthe former targeting previously untreatable genetic cardiovascular risks, and the latter expanding CAR-T cell therapy into the autoimmune disease arena. Notably, the failure of pelacarsen occurred against a backdrop of mixed news for Novartis AG Sponsored ADR last week: at the time, another experimental therapy had indeed delivered on its promise, providing a glimmer of comfort. Its oral medication for multiple sclerosis, remibrutinib, achieved success in two late-stage trials, pushing the companys stock up over 6% on Tuesday. Novartis AG Sponsored ADR has not yet disclosed detailed data on the failure of the pelacarsen trial, including how close the drug was to achieving its primary endpoint, and whether certain subgroups of patients benefitted more. The company stated that complete results will be presented at an upcoming medical conference.