Entresto misses Phase III endpoint in new heart failure population

Novartis' hopes to expand the label of Entresto to include all heart failure patients took a hit Monday, when the pharma said the cardiovascular drug missed the primary endpoint in the Phase III PARAGON-HF study in patients with preserved ejection fraction.

Approved to treat heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, Entresto sacubitril/valsartan is a major growth driver for Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS; SIX:NOVN). Since its 2015 launch, Entresto initially logged about $170 million in sales in 2016, and has since then shown triple-digit growth in back-to-back years, reaching $1 billion in 2018 sales...