Shares of companies developing drugs for a muscle wasting disorder tumble in premarket trading after Novartis NOVN.S says its treatment failed the main goal of video hand-opening time, a measure of hand myotonia, in a late-stage trial.
Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT.O was down 13.2% at $19.54, while Dyne Therapeutics DYN.O dropped 26% to $17.96.
U.S.-listed shares of Novartis were down 12.1% at $140.68 in premarket trading.
"The NVS failure makes Dyne's own trial much more risky. SRPT's drug is earlier stage, but the same goes there," Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Eric Schmidt said.
"For DYN, while the clinical risk here does go up, the upside potential for the stock goes up too, DYN now has a chance at being first-to-market in DM1," Stifel said.
Up to the last close, SRPT was up 4.6% and DYN was up 24.1% year to date.
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