AstraZeneca shares fell sharply Thursday after the pharmaceutical giant reported that its experimental use of Wainua failed to achieve the primary endpoint in a late-stage clinical trial for a rare heart disease, marking an unusual setback for one of the industry's most consistent drug developers during a period when healthcare companies continue to navigate investor caution amid geopolitical uncertainty, persistent inflation and ongoing pressure on global healthcare spending.
The British drugmaker said Wainua did not significantly reduce cardiovascular deaths or recurrent heart-related events compared with placebo in patients with transthyretin-mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), a progressive disease caused by abnormal transthyretin protein deposits in the heart muscle. The findings came from the Phase III CARDIO-TTRansform trial, AstraZeneca said in a company announcement Thursday.
