Novartis Shares Crash 14% to 52-Week Low After Three Drug Trial Failures in One Week

Novartis suffered a devastating session on Tuesday, September 8, with its U.S.-listed shares tumbling roughly 14% to close at $137.70, a fresh 52-week low, after two major late-stage clinical trial failures compounded a third setback earlier in September. The collapse triggered a broad biopharma selloff that dragged down peers including Amgen, Ionis Pharmaceuticals, Dyne Therapeutics, and Sarepta.

The most consequential failure was pelacarsen, Novartis's experimental drug designed to lower lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), a cholesterol-linked protein tied to cardiovascular risk. The drug flunked its final-stage study, a result that directly undermines the scientific premise behind a roughly $12 billion deal Novartis had built around the asset. Because Amgen and Eli Lilly are running their own Lp(a) programs on the same hypothesis, the failure cast a shadow over the entire drug class. Amgen shares fell 10.06% to $393.23, marking the stock's worst single-day decline since 2000 and pushing it to a 52-week low. BMO downgraded Amgen in response. Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which also has Lp(a) exposure, dropped roughly 10%.

Separately, Novartis announced that del-desiran, its treatment for myotonic dystrophy type 1, failed to meet its primary endpoint in the pivotal Phase 3 HARBOR study. The drug did not show a statistically significant improvement over placebo on video hand opening time, a novel measure of hand myotonia used as the trial's primary measure. That failure sent ripples through the rare muscle disease space, with Dyne Therapeutics falling 16.35% to close at $20.31 and Sarepta also tumbling sharply, though Mizuho reiterated its rating on Sarepta following the selloff.

Despite the setbacks, Novartis reiterated its 2025 to 2030 revenue growth guidance of 5% to 6% compound annual growth rate, pointing to a Phase 3 success for Rhapsido in relapsing multiple sclerosis as a partial offset, with analysts estimating Rhapsido's peak annual sales potential above $3 billion. The Swiss market also fell broadly on Tuesday, pressured heavily by the Novartis selloff. The options market saw elevated activity in NVS as traders repositioned around the volatile pipeline news.