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Heartache For Novartis As Serelaxin Failure Ups Pressure On Entresto

 
• By Sukaina Virji

Novartis's latest Phase III study of serelaxin has failed, deleting a significant chunk of forecasted revenue that analysts had attributed to the heart failure drug candidate.

Arrows miss target

Novartis AG's relaxin receptor agonist serelaxin (RLX030; recombinant relaxin) – touted as a potential blockbuster by some analysts – has failed in the RELAX-AHF-2 Phase III clinical trial for acute heart failure (AHF). The drug missed both co-primary endpoints of worsening of heart failure and cardiovascular death in the RELAX-AHF-2 study, which had been required by regulators to confirm serelaxin's potential benefits following mixed results from an earlier trial. (Also see "FDA reviewers advise no go for Novartis' serelaxin " - Scrip, 26 March, 2014.)

"We had included the product in our pipeline forecasts at $500m in 2021 and $750m in 2025," admitted Bernstein's Tim Anderson in a March 22 note

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