Novartis announces trial setback on del-desiran drug

Novartis AG

08/09/2026 07:03

ZURICH, Sept 8 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis NOVN.S on Tuesday said a late-stage study assessing drug del-desiran's impact on myotonic dystrophy, a form of muscle wasting, had not met its target on a key metric, but reaffirmed its sales guidance through 2030.
Novartis said in a statement that the Phase III HARBOR study "did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement versus placebo on the primary endpoint of video hand opening time", a measure of hand myotonia.
Shreeram Aradhye, President of Development and Chief Medical Officer at Novartis, said that developing therapies for a disease like myotonic dystrophy type 1 remains challenging, and that setbacks are part of scientific progress. 
The company's announcement came a day after shares in Novartis fell by more than 3% on news that its cholesterol drug failed in a closely watched study, dealing a blow to what investors had seen as a blockbuster treatment.
Novartis said it was sticking to its guidance that sales would grow at a compound annual rate of 5-6% from 2025 to 2030.   

 (Writing by Dave Graham
Editing by Ludwig Burger)
 ((dave.graham@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging: dave.graham.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))