Why did Novartis shares fall 3.3% on Monday, and what was the core outcome of the pelacarsen study?

Novartis shares fell 3.3% on Monday after the company announced that its cholesterol drug pelacarsen failed in a large, late-stage study: it did not reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with high Lp(a), an inherited cholesterol-related risk factor with no approved targeted treatments.

What are the implications of pelacarsen’s failure for Novartis’ broader pipeline and financial strategy?

The failure raises the stakes for Novartis’ upcoming data readouts — particularly for del-desiran, an experimental muscular dystrophy drug acquired for $12 billion, whose success is now deemed necessary to justify that price, and for remibrutinib, an anti-inflammatory drug with recent success in multiple sclerosis but pending results in hidradenitis suppurativa; analysts noted that remibrutinib’s prior success may soften investor reaction to pelacarsen’s setback.

Novartis falls as failed cholesterol drug study raises stakes for pipeline

Sep 7, 2026

Novartis shares fell 3.3% after its cholesterol drug pelacarsen failed a late-stage study targeting high Lp(a) levels. This setback increases pressure on the company's gene therapy pipeline and impacts market expectations for rival Lp(a)-lowering therapies.

reuters

2026-03-24

March 24 Business Watch: Helium Capacity Taken Out in Qatar; Novartis to Pay $2 Billion for Small Molecule

2026-05-05

Novartis to cut 220 jobs as it closes German site

2026-07-20

Novartis Backs Full-Year Forecast After Profit Beat Driven by One-Offs

2026-09-02

Novartis Could Cut About 130 Jobs in Basel Site Relocation

2026-09-07

Novartis falls as failed cholesterol drug study raises stakes for pipeline