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Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Getting the latest healthcare news for you
Novo Nordisk has halted two additional trials of its experimental cardiovascular drug ziltivekimab in heart failure patients, after an independent monitoring committee found little chance of success. This follows a July failure in a major late-stage trial, and comes alongside a similar flop from Novartis — casting doubt on the inflammation-based hypothesis driving both drugs' development.
Novo Nordisk is pulling back further on its cardiovascular ambitions after scrapping two more trials of ziltivekimab, its experimental anti-inflammatory heart drug. The decision came after an independent data monitoring committee determined there was a "low likelihood" either study would produce results meaningfully different from the drug's earlier late-stage failure in July, when it failed to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events — including death, non-fatal heart attack, and stroke — compared to placebo.
The back-to-back setbacks are a blow to Novo's strategy of diversifying beyond its highly successful obesity and diabetes drugs. Making matters more challenging, Novartis suffered a similar outcome just days earlier when its own experimental cardiovascular drug failed a late-stage trial — raising broader questions about whether the inflammatory-disease hypothesis underpinning both medicines is a viable path forward.
Key Takeaways:
Why it matters: These trial failures signal a potential dead end for inflammation-targeting approaches in cardiovascular disease — a hypothesis that has attracted significant R&D investment. For clinicians and patients, it underscores the continued difficulty of finding new therapies beyond established cardiovascular treatments.
