Troubling trial miss affects DP2 hopefuls

Top-line data for Novartis (NOVN: VX) asthma candidate and aspiring blockbuster fevipiprant show the drug failed to improve lung function in two late-stage studies.

Novartis smuggled the headline results out in an  otherwise positive financial results statement for the third quarter.

The Swiss firm stated that while the ZEAL 1 and 2 trials did not meet the primary efficacy endpoint of FEV1 improvement in moderate asthmatic patients, the safety profile was confirmed as “clean and placebo like.”