ZURICH (Reuters) -Novartis said its Kymriah CAR-T therapy did not meet its primary endpoint of event-free survival in a phase III study in patients with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) after relapse or lack of response to first-line treatment.
The safety profile was consistent with the established safety profile of Kymriah and Novartis will complete a full evaluation of the BELINDA study data, the Swiss drugmaker said in a statement on Tuesday.
ZKB, which rates the stock overweight, called the news negative in a note to investors.
“With a positive outcome, the consensus for peak sales would probably have gone above $2 billion from currently a little over $1 billion,” analyst Laurent Flamme wrote.
“With the approved indications, however, $1 billion in peak sales is still possible.”
Novartis shares were indicated to open 0.71% lower, according to pre-market indications by bank Julius Baer.
(Reporting by Silke Koltrowitz and Michael ShieldsEditing by Riham Alkousaa)
