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AstraZeneca Shares Fall 9% After Wainua Heart Drug Trial Misses Primary Endpoint
London-listed shares of the British drugmaker dropped as much as 9 percent Thursday after late-stage results showed Wainua failed to reduce deaths and heart events in patients with transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy. The outcome also pushed shares of partner Ionis Pharmaceuticals lower while lifting those of rival Alnylam.
Jul 9, 3:59 AM·1m read3 sources
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AstraZeneca shares fell as much as 9 percent on Thursday after the company reported that its Wainua drug failed to meet the primary endpoint in a late-stage trial for transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy. The medicine did not reduce deaths and recurrent heart-related emergencies over 140 weeks compared with placebo when added to existing treatment, the company said in a press release issued early Thursday.
Cnbc reported that London-listed shares were last seen down 8.8 percent and on track for the worst day since March 2020.
NYSE-listed shares traded 8 percent lower in premarket activity. Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which is co-developing Wainua in the United States, fell 12.5 percent in premarket trading. The trial tested Wainua in patients with the specific form of ATTR-CM in which misfolded proteins accumulate in heart muscle.
An estimated 500,000 people worldwide live with the condition. A majority of study participants were already receiving a stabilizer that prevents protein misfolding. AstraZeneca stated that its existing license for Wainua remains unaffected.
The drug is already approved for conditions involving nerve damage from misfolded proteins and is sold in Europe as Wainzua. In the subgroup of patients not taking a stabilizer at baseline, Wainua produced a nominally significant reduction in deaths and heart events versus placebo.
Citi analysts said the primary-endpoint miss made additional regulatory filings unlikely, given that Alnylam already markets Amvuttra for ATTR-CM.
"Although the trial did not meet its primary objective, we believe the results support greater scientific understanding of treatment approaches for the hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide suffering from this progressive and often fatal condition," said AstraZeneca Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D Sharon Barr.
