Ionis Partner Novartis' Pelacarsen Fails Phase 3 Cardiovascular Outcomes Trial
IONS is trading near its 52-week low of $50.005 (8.0% above the low).
Summary
Novartis announced that pelacarsen, an Ionis-discovered antisense drug, failed its Phase 3 Lp(a)HORIZON trial, missing the primary endpoint of reducing major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with elevated Lp(a) and established CVD. The drug did substantially lower Lp(a) levels, but that did not translate into clinical benefit. This is a major pipeline setback for Ionis, which licensed pelacarsen to Novartis in 2019 and retains no commercial rights. The failure follows the July Phase 3 failure of eplontersen in ATTR-CM, marking a second high-profile cardiovascular miss this year. Ionis continues to rely on its wholly owned commercial products TRYNGOLZA, DAWNZERA, and ZANVASTRO, but the loss of pelacarsen removes a significant potential royalty stream. Full data will be presented at an upcoming medical congress, but the primary endpoint miss is definitive.
At the time of this announcement, IONS was trading at $54.00 on NASDAQ in the Life Sciences sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $9.7B. The 52-week trading range was $50.01 to $86.74. This news item was assessed with negative market sentiment and an importance score of 9 out of 10. Source: BusinessWire.