A small market that punches far above its weight, dominated by global heavyweights in pharma, food and luxury — Nestlé, Roche and Novartis. A safe-haven market known for stability.
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Novartis Acquires Full Rights to Sironax Brain Delivery Platform
Novartis agreed to acquire full rights to Sironax's proprietary brain delivery platform for neurological disease treatments. The deal gives Novartis control of Sironax's technology designed to transport therapeutics across the blood brain barrier, expanding its toolkit for research into central nervous system disorders where treatment options remain limited. Novartis is a large pharmaceuticals group with a CHF218.8 billion market cap that researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, markets, and sells medicines globally, so gaining access to differentiated delivery technology directly links into its existing focus on complex neurological treatments. The Sironax platform speaks to the same advanced-therapy thesis that underpins Cosentyx's CHMP progress and remibrutinib's Phase 3 data, as Novartis seeks to own hard-to-reach biology where rivals like Roche and Biogen also compete for neurologists' attention. The flip side is that every new modality adds complexity, and recent trial setbacks such as pelacarsen and del-desiran keep development risk front and center, with analysts flagging that stacking capital-intensive projects on top of share buybacks could stretch the balance sheet of a business already carrying a high level of debt.
UBS Cuts Nike Price Target to $42, Warns of Further Earnings Cuts
UBS cut its price target on Nike to $42 from $48, maintaining a Neutral rating as analyst Jay Sole said channel checks show the company's global sales growth trend has worsened over the past three months. UBS expects Nike to miss fiscal first-quarter 2027 earnings estimates by about 5 cents per share and to guide fiscal second-quarter EPS to roughly 31 cents to 43 cents, well below the Street's 53-cent estimate. The firm also sees a risk that Nike uses the upcoming earnings report to lower fiscal 2027 expectations ahead of its November investor day, and it believes investors remain too optimistic about the magnitude of potential earnings revisions. Options markets are pricing in an approximately 8% move around the event, compared with Nike's historical average move of about 6.7%. Nike recently traded around $35.78, just above its 52-week low of $35.76, and the stock has fallen roughly 49% over the past year, with Morgan Stanley, BMO and UBS all highlighting downside risks.
Novartis wins positive CHMP opinion for Cosentyx in polymyalgia rheumatica
Novartis announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has adopted a positive opinion recommending marketing authorization for Cosentyx, also known as secukinumab, in polymyalgia rheumatica. The opinion supports use in adults who have had an inadequate response to steroids or who relapse during steroid taper, and if approved, Cosentyx would be the first interleukin-17A inhibitor licensed in Europe for the disease. The recommendation rests on the pivotal REPLENISH Phase III trial, in which all primary and secondary endpoints were met across both the Cosentyx 300mg and 150mg arms, including complete sustained remission and time until patients needed additional treatment through week 52, with no new safety signals identified. Those data were published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the 2026 European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology Congress on June 3, 2026. The European Commission is expected to issue a final decision within approximately two months.
CHMP Backs Roche's Ocrevus for Children and Teens With Relapsing MS
The European Medicines Agency's Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has recommended approval of Roche's Ocrevus, or ocrelizumab, intravenous infusion for patients aged 10 years and older with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, making it the first high-efficacy anti-CD20 treatment option for people with MS as young as 10 years old. The positive opinion rests on the Phase III OPERETTA 2 study, in which Ocrevus was non-inferior to fingolimod, the current standard treatment in paediatric MS, at controlling relapses and reduced the risk of relapses by 48% compared with fingolimod. In the same trial Ocrevus was superior at reducing brain inflammation, with significant reductions in new or enlarging T2 lesions of 48% and gadolinium-enhancing active T1 lesions of 87%, and its safety profile in children and teens was consistent with that seen in adults, with no patients stopping treatment due to side effects. The U.S. FDA approved Ocrevus for paediatric RMS patients in May 2026, and a final decision from the European Commission is expected in the near future. At least 40,000 children and adolescents are living with MS worldwide, with roughly one-third in Europe.
Nestlé Weighs 'All Options' After Russian Business Seizure
Swiss food giant Nestlé said on the 18th that after its Russian business was seized, it is considering all options to protect its rights. Nestlé stated it "will take all necessary measures to protect its rights and ensure the continuation of its business operations, in the interests of all stakeholders, especially its employees," but did not touch on what specific measures it is considering. The company has six factories in Russia, producing coffee, pet care products, and infant formula, and according to its most recently published 2021 financial results, it recorded sales of about 2 billion Swiss francs in Russia and employs about 7,000 people in the country. Nestlé justifies continuing its business in Russia on the grounds that, as a food manufacturer, it supplies daily necessities. Kepler Cheuvreux analyst Jon Cox said, "Nestlé could lose these assets, and no amount of compensation would make up for it."
Novartis Shares Plunge 10% as Del-desiran Fails Late-Stage Trial
Novartis shares fell about 10% after the company said its experimental drug del-desiran failed to meet its primary goal in a late-stage trial for myotonic dystrophy type 1, marking its third clinical setback in a week. The earlier failures involved the cardiovascular drug pelacarsen and a pause of eight trials of the cell therapy rap-cel following three patient deaths. The decline erased roughly 24 billion Swiss francs, or about $29.6 billion, in market value and put Novartis on pace for one of its worst trading days in company history. Barclays had estimated peak annual sales of about $3.1 billion for del-desiran and assigned the drug a 60% probability of success after positive mid-stage results, and the failure raises questions about the $12 billion Avidity acquisition that brought the drug into Novartis' pipeline. Management reaffirmed its full-year financial guidance and maintained its target for 5% to 6% compound annual sales growth from 2025 through 2030, while the company reported successful late-stage results for remibrutinib in multiple sclerosis and expects more data later this year.
Novartis pelacarsen failure raises stakes for Amgen and Eli Lilly Lp(a) drugs
Novartis' failed pelacarsen trial has raised the stakes for rival experimental cholesterol drugs from Amgen and Eli Lilly, both racing to prove that lowering lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), can meaningfully reduce heart attacks and strokes. Analysts said Amgen's olpasiran faces the clearest negative read-through given its similar trial design, while Lilly's lepodisiran is being tested in a broader patient population that could limit how directly Novartis' failure applies and is described as less material to Lilly's overall valuation than pelacarsen was for Novartis. The failure raises the scientific and regulatory burden for the entire Lp(a) drug class, and both companies still face binary clinical risk before either olpasiran or lepodisiran delivers definitive late-stage cardiovascular-outcome evidence. On hedge fund positioning, Amgen's position value nearly doubled to $3.14 billion in the second quarter from $1.63 billion in the first, with holder count roughly steady at 66 versus 65, while Lilly's holders rose to 152 from 132 and position value jumped to $17.24 billion from $12.58 billion.
Aevis Victoria H1 2026 NAV Rises 7% as Healthcare Margins Improve
Aevis Victoria reported a net asset value of CHF26.75 per share for H1 2026, up nearly 7% year-over-year and 2.3% versus the prior year-end level, while the discount to NAV remained above 50%, which management described as unprecedented in the group's history. Within the healthcare segment, Swiss Medical Network's EBITDA margin improved from 18.6% to 21.6%, and ambulatory services turned EBITDA-positive for the first time, with its margin rising from 7.1% to 11.8%. The company set a healthcare EBITDA margin target of 23% with organic growth of 2% to 3% per year, noting mature hospitals representing over 50% of the portfolio can reach more than 25% to 26% EBITDA margin while ramp-up hospitals sit at 10% to 20%. Interest expenses declined 43% year-over-year, consolidated net debt stood at CHF846 million with the bulk under Swiss Hotel Property, Swiss Medical Network's net debt-to-EBITDA was approximately 2.2x to 2.3x, and loan-to-value for the real estate business fell to 45%. Chief Financial Officer Michel Keusch cited three catalysts to narrow the discount to NAV: a next phase of value crystallization through selling stakes to strategic shareholders, including the officially announced search for strategic investors in Swiss Medical Network; enhanced investor relations with more roadshows, a Capital Markets Day and greater financial transparency; and a near-quintupling of average daily liquidity over the past two years.
Fed Raises Rates to 3.75-4% as Warsh Rejects Labor-Market Harm for 2% Inflation
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point to a target range of 3¾ to 4 percent, with Chair Kevin Warsh declaring that the central bank does not need to harm the labor market to bring inflation down to its 2% goal. Warsh said "the plain fact is that inflation is too high and has been for too long," that he would be hard-pressed to call broad financial conditions restrictive, and that the Committee had "removed a dose of accommodation." A UBS research note led by economist Jonathan Pingle called that phrasing much stronger wording than the market expected, and argued Warsh's policy response function has shifted versus prior Fed chairs, becoming more sensitive to financial conditions and less sensitive to the labor market. The Summary of Economic Projections shows a median path of real GDP growth of 2.3% this year and 2.4% next year, with total PCE inflation at 3.7% this year falling to 2.3% next year and a median appropriate policy rate of 4.1% at year-end. Warsh, who said he has not offered a projection of his own, described a unanimous Committee vote, said inflation risks skew to the upside while labor risks are roughly balanced, and cited a 4.1% jobless rate along with rising job openings and hours in calling the labor side of the mandate "in good shape."
Roche's Lunsumio Plus Lenalidomide Meets Primary Endpoint in Phase III Follicular Lymphoma Trial
Roche Holding reported that its Phase III CELESTIMO trial of Lunsumio plus lenalidomide met its primary endpoint in relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma. The CELESTIMO data support regulatory submissions to expand Lunsumio's label to patients who have received at least one prior systemic therapy. Roche highlighted that the Lunsumio and lenalidomide combination is designed for outpatient administration, aiming to ease capacity pressure on hospitals. The key marker from here is the timing and outcome of health authority reviews of the CELESTIMO data, including whether the study converts Lunsumio's accelerated approval into full approval and secures a second line or later follicular lymphoma label. Roche Holding is a CHF289.6 billion pharmaceuticals and diagnostics group operating across Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania.
UBS Upgrades Industrial Metals to Overweight on Structural Tailwinds
UBS has upgraded industrial metals to Overweight, turning more bullish on the sector as it argues structural forces will support commodity prices over the coming years. The bank's strategists pointed to a steady rise in emerging market demand, global efforts to reach net-zero emissions, climate change and structural underinvestment across almost every sector. UBS said it expects commodities to deliver strong diversification benefits for traditional bond and equity portfolios over the medium term, with both macroeconomic conditions and market-based signals remaining supportive. The strategists wrote that the recent pullback in base metals prices offers an opportunity to increase exposure, and that constrained supply and supportive structural demand should provide a floor for prices and underpin a recovery over the coming quarters. Still, the bank cautioned that prices are unlikely to rise in a straight line and recommended an actively managed approach built on three pillars: dynamically adjusting overall exposure to the asset class, taking a differentiated sector approach, and enhancing returns on cash collateral by replacing money-market securities with a higher-yielding portfolio.
Allianz Partners and Waymo Partner on European Robotaxi Insurance
Allianz Partners and Waymo have formed a collaboration to build insurance, claims and safety research solutions supporting Waymo's service expansion across Europe, with a phased commercial deployment planned starting in Germany and the possibility of extending to additional markets over time. The arrangement pairs Waymo's autonomous driving system, the Waymo Driver, with insurance, mobility assistance and vehicle safety research capabilities from Allianz Partners, Allianz Group's business-to-business-to-consumer insurance and assistance services arm, backed by other Allianz Group entities including the Allianz Center for Technology, Allianz Versicherungs, Allianz Commercial and Solvd Group. The partnership focuses on four priority areas: tailored insurance and risk management for Waymo's autonomous fleets, including motor fleet insurance and general liability multinational insurance programmes for product liability protection plus new insurance models for autonomous mobility platforms; digital claims handling through Solvd Group, Allianz Partners' digital claims management entity, intended to support streamlined end-to-end claims processing in future; joint research on autonomous vehicle safety, claims trends and risk modelling, with the Allianz Center for Technology contributing crash analysis and vehicle safety expertise and potential joint publications as operational data becomes available; and vehicle recovery, where the companies will examine additional areas for collaboration over time, including operational solutions designed for autonomous fleets. Allianz Partners CEO Tomas Kunzmann said Waymo's technology leadership combined with Allianz's global expertise in insurance, assistance and vehicle safety allows the companies to build a comprehensive ecosystem providing passengers peace of mind at every stage of the journey, while Waymo risk and insurance head Tilia Gode said the tie-up pairs Waymo's proven US safety record and commercial experience with world-class European risk and claims expertise. In July, Allianz agreed to buy Singapore life and health insurance business HSBC Life (Singapore) from HSBC Holdings for $2.09bn (S$2.7bn).
UBS told investors Thursday that the Federal Reserve's latest interest rate increase should not derail the equity rally, even as policymakers signaled more tightening to come. The Fed unanimously raised its target range by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4.00%, with Chair Kevin Warsh saying officials had "removed a dose of accommodation" and that broad financial conditions were hard to describe as restrictive. Despite the hawkish tone, with 16 of 18 officials now expecting at least one more hike this year, UBS said much of the tightening is already priced in, noting markets had braced for nearly four increases over the cycle versus UBS's forecast of two. The bank pointed to the Fed's upgraded growth forecasts and strong August retail sales, which rose 1.2%, as evidence the tightening is manageable, and forecast industry AI capital spending rising to $1.2 trillion in 2027 from $900 billion. UBS also forecast S&P 500 profit growth of 25% in 2026 and 14% in 2027, recommending diversified exposure while avoiding rate-sensitive concentration.
Dualitas Therapeutics and Roche Launch Bispecific Antibody Collaboration Worth Up to $1 Billion
Dualitas Therapeutics announced a research collaboration and license agreement with Roche to discover and develop novel bispecific antibodies for immunology and inflammation diseases using Dualitas' DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine. Under the deal, Dualitas will functionally screen more than 300,000 novel bispecific combinations, which the company describes as one of the largest-scale bispecific discovery endeavors, while Roche will handle all subsequent preclinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial activities. Dualitas will receive $36.5 million in upfront payments and is eligible for research, development and commercial milestone payments plus tiered royalties for a potential total deal value of up to $1 billion. Forbes Huang, co-founder, chief operating officer and chief business officer of Dualitas, called the partnership a first-of-its-kind collaboration to functionally screen and develop novel proximity bispecific antibodies at a scale previously unachievable. Boris L. Zaïtra, Head of Corporate Business Development at Roche, said bispecific antibodies remain central to Roche's portfolio strategy across many disease areas, and Karim Dabbagh, chief executive officer and board member of Dualitas, said the collaboration underscores the potential of the company's technologies to identify bispecific antibodies that harness novel proximity mechanisms.
Newmont Resolves Fourmile Interests With Barrick, UBS Sees Market Undervaluing Deal
Newmont has resolved uncertainty around its Fourmile project interests involving Barrick Mining, closing a major project question mark. UBS views the clarification of Fourmile ownership and collaboration terms as a meaningful shift in Newmont's long term project pipeline, and argues the agreement is not yet fully reflected in how the market prices Newmont's future prospects. Newmont is a US based gold producer with a reported market value of about $130.0b, so decisions on projects like Fourmile can influence a sizeable portion of the global listed metals and mining universe. The Fourmile resolution leans into the bullish side of the Newmont Narrative, giving the company clearer exposure to a high quality Nevada resource base alongside Nevada Gold Mines and expansion projects such as Ahafo North and Tanami. The bear case is not cleared away, as bringing Fourmile and related properties into the joint venture adds execution and capital allocation questions similar to the Newcrest integration, especially with competitors like Barrick and Agnico Eagle chasing the same high quality ounces.
Novartis Halts Development of ALS Drug Rifonebart After Mid-Stage Trial Misses Primary Endpoint
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has discontinued development of its candidate ALS treatment VHB937, also known as rifonebart, after a mid-stage clinical trial failed to achieve its primary endpoint. Endpoints News and Bloomberg News reported the news early on the 16th, and Novartis later confirmed the reports in an email to Reuters. Rifonebart failed to meet both its primary and secondary endpoints in the mid-stage trial, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of the drug in 251 patients with early-stage ALS within two years of symptom onset. The drug is designed to stabilize TREM2, a protein that helps regulate immune responses, inflammation, and the clearance of waste products in the brain. The decision to halt development follows the failure of a trial for a muscle-wasting disease treatment announced last week, in addition to setbacks with a closely watched heart disease treatment, and the company's move this month to pause eight of ten trials of its experimental cell therapy rap-cel after three patient deaths, heightening investor scrutiny of Novartis's development pipeline. Novartis is also pursuing research into the drug in patients with Alzheimer's disease, and according to a clinical trial registry, a mid-stage trial in Alzheimer's is still recruiting participants.
Palantir $1 trillion valuation case revived as Q2 revenue jumps 93%
Former Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives has renewed his call that Palantir Technologies could one day reach a $1 trillion market capitalization, roughly 141% above its current value of over $415 billion. Ives pointed to Palantir's recent results, with second-quarter revenue surging 93 percent to $1.94 billion from a year ago and U.S. commercial sales jumping 149% to $764 million. Management now forecasts revenue of around $8.15 billion in 2026, nearly an 82% increase at the midpoint. UBS raised its price estimate to $250 from $220 after engaging with customers and management. Palantir trades at more than 70 times trailing revenue, leaving little room for disappointment as it must keep expanding fast enough to justify the premium.
UBS Raises Valero Energy Price Target to $450, Sees Record High Ahead
UBS raised its price target on Valero Energy Corporation from $355 to $450 on September 8 while keeping a Buy rating on the shares, a revision that implies nearly 17% upside from current levels and sits above the stock's all-time high of over $393 reached earlier this month. The call rests on expectations that unusually strong global refining margins will persist longer than previously assumed, as damaged or idled refineries take time to return to full operations and Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries further constrain worldwide capacity. Valero's COO, Gary Simmons, said an arbitrage opportunity for jet fuel exports to Europe has reopened, and the company expects jet fuel margins to improve over the remainder of the third quarter as refiners shift to winter diesel specifications. The refiner returned $2.6 billion to shareholders in its highest-ever second quarter, up sharply from $695 million a year earlier, and TD Cowen's Jason Gabelman expects Valero to repurchase about 20% of its market value between the third quarter and the end of next year. UBS's move signals confidence that elevated crack spreads can support further gains, though a pullback in refining margins remains the key risk to earnings expectations and the share price.
Adecco Group Rolls Out Salesforce Agentforce Coworker Across 40 Plus Countries
The Adecco Group announced the global rollout of Salesforce's Agentforce Coworker across 40 plus countries, following a successful pilot in the UK and France. The enterprise AI teammate, embedded directly in the platform and powered by Anthropic's Claude, supports work across sales, recruitment and client and candidate engagement workflows. The rollout extends agentic AI infrastructure into the daily workflows of 27,000 employees, building on an unlimited Agentforce 360 enterprise agreement with Salesforce; the company has already deployed agentic AI across recruitment workflows in ten countries, representing 50% of Adecco business revenues. Coworker will also draw on context from more than 2.5 million agent-candidate interactions since April 2025. CEO Denis Machuel will join Salesforce chair and CEO Marc Benioff, alongside the CEOs of Anthropic, NVIDIA and Siemens, at the main Dreamforce keynote to discuss human-centric AI, saying the rollout gives teams a single interface that knows candidate history and client context for the moment when human judgment matters most.
Fluor Shares Rise 6.1% After Q2 Earnings Beat and Analyst Target Hikes
Fluor shares rose 6.1% in pre-market trading to $57.52, putting the engineering and construction company's stock close to its 52-week high of $58.35. The advance followed Fluor's second-quarter 2026 financial results, when the company reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.91 against an analyst consensus estimate of $0.71, on quarterly revenue of $4.33 billion. Truist raised its price target on Fluor to $71 from $64 on August 10, while UBS initiated coverage with a Buy rating and a $66 price target. Fluor reported $6.1 billion of new awards during the second quarter, bringing its backlog to $26.9 billion at the end of the period, and investors have also been assessing the company's exposure to nuclear energy and data-centre projects as part of its broader project pipeline. The gain came during a weaker session for major US equity indices, with the S&P 500 down 0.7%, the Dow Jones down 0.2% and the Nasdaq down 1.7%, and no new company-specific announcement was identified to account for the move.
Nestlé presses ahead through QCP dispute with 23-billion-baht Thailand investment in new Nescafé plant
Nestlé (Thai) Co., Ltd. has disclosed progress in the dispute arising from the termination of its joint venture in Quality Coffee Products Co., Ltd., or QCP. An international arbitration tribunal issued its ruling on 20 December 2024, and the joint venture agreement ended on 31 December 2024. A petition was subsequently filed with the Singapore High Court on issues relating to the termination, before the court issued a ruling on 4 March 2026, which Nestlé said was consistent with the arbitration tribunal's decision. On the disputes in Thailand, the company said several cases have been filed since the joint venture agreement ended, with the status and outcome of each case varying, and some key cases are still being heard by the Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court. Meanwhile, an interim injunction that had affected the management of QCP and the distribution of Nescafé products has been lifted, allowing Nescafé product sales to resume as normal. However, some related cases remain unresolved and must await rulings through the judicial process. Nestlé affirmed it will cooperate with the relevant authorities and continue to proceed in accordance with the law. At the same time, the company disclosed a planned investment in Thailand worth 23,000 million baht to build a new Nescafé production plant and a distribution centre, saying the project has already received investment promotion from the Board of Investment, or BOI. The new plant is located in Araya Industrial Estate in Samut Prakan province, is expected to begin operations in 2028, will create more than 520 jobs, and will use domestic raw materials in the production process.
Study finds Trump's Medicare drug price crackdown risks pushing drugmakers to raise prices or withdraw medicines worldwide
A new study published in the medical journal The Lancet suggests that the Trump administration's efforts to cut U.S. drug spending could give pharmaceutical companies an incentive to raise prices or reduce sales of medicines in other countries around the world to offset lost revenue in the U.S. market. The Trump administration wants prices for drugs under the federal Medicare health program to align with levels in other wealthy countries, but researchers found that for about three in four of the medicines studied, if companies had to cut the prices they charge Medicare to match those of cheaper reference countries, the revenue lost in the U.S. would exceed the drug's entire sales in the reference country. The study analyzed 195 patented drugs, accounting for a total of 87.9 billion dollars in Medicare spending in 2024, comparing them with drug prices in 19 reference countries. It found that aligning the prices Medicare pays with those of the reference countries would save the two pilot programs the U.S. government uses to test the measure about 11.6 billion dollars. But if the 17 drugmakers that struck separate pricing agreements with the White House were exempted, the savings would fall to just 3.3 billion dollars. The effects are already emerging: Astellas Pharma said it was able to negotiate a higher price for a new eye disease treatment in Japan this year, while Chris Viehbacher, chief executive of Biogen, said the company would launch Zurzuvae, a treatment for postpartum depression, in only a few European countries, and Roche Holding said it may not launch a new oral breast cancer drug, which has not yet been approved in Switzerland, the company's home country.
Blackstone Nears Full Exit From Bumble After 98% IRR as Shares Fall 96% Since IPO
Blackstone Inc. is reportedly finalizing a full exit from Bumble Inc. after roughly doubling its money on the dating app, even as Bumble's shares have fallen about 96.1% since its 2021 IPO. Blackstone and venture firm Accel invested $2.1 billion in 2019 to acquire a majority stake in Bumble's parent company MagicLab at a $3 billion valuation, and Blackstone generated a 98% internal rate of return by systematically reducing its exposure, according to a Business Insider report. In late 2020 the firm used Bumble's debt to issue a $334 million dividend to itself, then cut its stake from 83.6% to 53.2% at the IPO, netting nearly $2 billion, and sold another $1 billion of stock in 2021 when shares traded above $50. A deal with UBS allowing sales of just under 5% of the company each quarter positions Blackstone to exit fully by early next year, and its remaining 22.4 million shares are now worth approximately $66.75 million, versus the $1.084 billion a similar volume of shares yielded in 2021. Blackstone has also vacated its two board seats, with Jonathan Korngold stepping down in June and Martin Brand in August, while Bumble faces a 16.4% year-over-year decline in paying users; M Science analyst Chandler Willison told Business Insider that a private equity group is the most obvious potential buyer for Bumble.
Amgen Falls 5% After Novartis Lp(a) Drug Misses Phase 3 Trial
Amgen Inc. shed roughly $12 billion in market value after hours on September 4, 2026, with the stock declining about 5% to $415, after Novartis announced that its Lp(a)-lowering therapy pelacarsen missed the Phase 3 cardiovascular-outcomes trial Lp(a)HORIZON. Novartis said pelacarsen substantially lowered Lp(a) but still failed to reduce the composite of cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, and urgent revascularization, directly challenging the hypothesis that lowering Lp(a), a genetic cardiovascular risk factor, cuts events. The read-through hit Amgen because its late-stage asset olpasiran, an siRNA that lowered Lp(a) by more than 95% at certain doses in Phase 2 versus roughly 80% for pelacarsen in earlier studies, rests on the same biological premise. The bull case that this deeper reduction could deliver better cardiovascular outcomes remains unproven, since the Lp(a)HORIZON topline provided no evidence of a clinical threshold above an 80% reduction, and Eli Lilly's lepodisiran is running the same deep-reduction experiment. Amgen is not an Lp(a) pure-play, with MariTide in obesity, Repatha in cholesterol, and Tezspire in asthma driving more value, while Insider Monkey data shows 66 hedge funds held AMGN in the second quarter of 2026, up slightly from 65 in the first, and short interest sits at just 2.4% of float.
Wall Street Ends Week Lower as Apple Unveils Foldable iPhone Duo
Wall Street closed the week lower as investors weighed a sharp rise in Treasury yields and fresh inflation data, with the benchmark 10-year yield climbing nearly 20 bps to 4.97% and CPI rising 0.4% month over month in August, in line with estimates and up from July's 0.1% gain. For the week, the blue-chip Dow fell 1.57%, the S&P 500 lost 0.80%, and the Nasdaq Composite handed back 0.66%. Apple formally unveiled the iPhone Duo, its first foldable smartphone, at its Sept. 9 product event, with a foldable display starting at $1,999 and availability scheduled for Oct. 23. Novartis shares fell about 14% on Tuesday after the company reported that del-desiran, an experimental drug designed to fight muscle-wasting disease, failed to meet the primary endpoint in a late-stage trial. Oracle shares jumped after the IT giant reported fiscal first-quarter results and guidance that beat Wall Street estimates, with revenue up 30% year over year and cloud revenue climbing 62% to $11.6B, driven largely by a 121% surge in infrastructure revenue. Quantum computing stocks Rigetti Computing, Quantum Computing, and Quantinuum rallied on Tuesday following a combined $300M CHIPS Act funding commitment from the U.S. Department of Commerce, under which the government will receive minority equity stakes in Rigetti and D-Wave.
UnitedHealth sells Optum Florida stake to TPG as CooperCompanies cuts guidance and Amgen slides
UnitedHealth has sold an interest in some of its Optum Health operations in Florida to private equity firm TPG, part of the health conglomerate's effort to recover from a collapse in profits last year. CFO Wayne DeVeydt told Bloomberg News that Optum Health margins will be around 2% this year, above prior expectations, and should rise to around 4% in 2027 and 6% the following year. Amgen fell more than 8%, its worst single-day decline since 2016, after Novartis announced a Phase 3 trial failure for the heart disease therapy pelacarsen, which it is developing with Ionis Pharmaceuticals; BMO Capital Markets downgraded Amgen to Market Perform from Market Outperform with a $450 price target. CooperCompanies dropped 13% after issuing fiscal 2026 guidance below consensus, with revenue of $4.229B-$4.252B versus the prior $4.285B-$4.321B and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $4.51-$4.55 versus $4.58-$4.66 previously, and said its board decided to keep CooperSurgical rather than sell it while raising its share buyback authorization to $3B from $2B. Novo Nordisk fell more than 1% premarket after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to Underweight from Equal-weight, citing the semaglutide patent cliff, and the S&P 500 Health Care Sector Index slipped more than 3.5% for the week.
Novartis Doses First Patient in Phase 2 Sjögren's Trial, Triggering $50M Payment to Monte Rosa
Monte Rosa Therapeutics announced on September 8 that partner Novartis has dosed the first patient in a Phase 2 trial of the VAV1-targeted drug MRT-6160, also known as DDY391, in people with Sjögren's disease, triggering a $50 million milestone payment to Monte Rosa and marking the first step in a collaboration that could eventually be worth up to $2.1 billion. Novartis is footing the entire bill for the study, which will track participants for as long as a year of treatment and compare the drug against placebo across multiple sites to select the right dose before a Phase 3 program begins, and Monte Rosa stands to collect further payments each time a new Phase 2 study opens for MRT-6160 in other immune conditions. In an earlier Phase 1 trial, the molecule knocked down VAV1 protein levels by over 90% in patients' T cells and calmed key markers of inflammation without triggering any serious side effects. Monte Rosa also reported on August 6 that enrollment and dosing had wrapped up in its GFORCE-1 study of MRT-8102 in people with elevated cardiovascular risk, with results due later in 2026, and that its MODeFIRe-1 study pairing MRT-2359 with the prostate cancer drug apalutamide is up and running, backed by $626 million in cash, equivalents, and marketable securities as of June 30 that management says can fund operations into 2029. The progress has come at a cost: collaboration revenue fell to $9.0 million in the second quarter of 2026 from $23.2 million a year earlier, research spending rose to $48.0 million from $30.7 million, administrative costs climbed to $10.1 million from $8.1 million, and the quarterly net loss ballooned to $43.4 million, more than triple the $12.3 million loss in the same period of 2025. Hedge fund ownership edged up to 36 funds from 35, while 21.52% of the float is sold short, an unusual pairing that suggests the market has not settled on whether the milestone cash flow outweighs the widening losses.
Roche Partner MediLink Reports Phase III Win for Tam-Peli in Relapsed SCLC
Roche announced that its collaborator MediLink released interim results from the randomized phase III TAISHAN-302 trial showing that Tam-Peli, also known as tambotatug pelitecan or YL201, beat topotecan in Chinese patients with relapsed small-cell lung cancer who progressed after prior platinum-based chemotherapy with or without a PD-L1 inhibitor. The trial met its primary endpoint of overall survival, with Tam-Peli reducing the risk of death by 54 percent, with median overall survival of 13.3 versus 9.4 months and a stratified hazard ratio of 0.46 at a p-value below 0.0001. Tam-Peli also extended median progression-free survival to 7.4 months from 2.8 months and achieved a confirmed objective response rate of 59.1 percent versus 9.7 percent. The results are being presented as a Late-Breaking Abstract during a Presidential Presentation at the IASLC 2026 World Conference on Lung Cancer in Seoul with simultaneous publication in The New England Journal of Medicine, and China's Center of Drug Evaluation has accepted the New Drug Application for filing. Roche, which holds development, manufacturing and commercialization rights for Tam-Peli worldwide outside mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau under a January 2026 exclusive licensing agreement with MediLink Therapeutics, said the data support plans to rapidly initiate global phase III trials.
Olema Falls After AstraZeneca's Etcamah Fails Late-Stage Breast Cancer Trial
Olema Pharmaceuticals shares dropped about 15% in after-hours trading Friday after AstraZeneca disclosed that its SERD and CERAN, Etcamah (camizestrant), failed as a first-line breast cancer treatment. Olema is developing its own estrogen receptor antagonist and selective estrogen receptor degrader, palazestrant. Palazestrant is in phase 3 development in a collaboration with Novartis as a first-line treatment in combination with the CDK 4/6 inhibitor Kisqali (ribociclib) for metastatic breast cancer, and it is also in phase 3 as a second- and third-line monotherapy.
UBS Downgrades NuScale to Sell, Cuts Target to $6 as Stock Falls 14%
UBS downgraded NuScale Power Corp. to Sell from Neutral and cut its price target to $6 from $10, sending shares down 13.66% intraday on an implied downside of about 40%. Analyst Jon Windham cited an extended build timeline and the absence of firm customer commitments, with competitors already moving toward construction. Windham estimates the market currently implies $124 million of 2028 EBITDA against his own forecast of $29 million, a gap of more than four times, and he models roughly $700 million of cumulative cash burn from 2026 through 2028 on the assumption that only one project begins construction in 2028. He projects revenue rising from $185 million in 2028 to $924 million in 2030, a 123% compound annual rate, with earnings negative throughout. UBS cautioned that project delays, setbacks at RoPower, and limited progress with the Tennessee Valley Authority could widen the gap further, and noted that a five-year-plus build leaves NuScale behind rivals already breaking ground.
Novartis Faces Boardroom Pressure After $30 Billion Deal Spree
Novartis is facing sharper questions over its dealmaking strategy after clinical setbacks weakened confidence in recent acquisitions, with Artisan Partners demanding stronger board oversight of acquisitions following the failure of del-desiran, which undermined a central argument for the $12 billion purchase of Avidity. CEO Vas Narasimhan has deployed more than $30 billion into acquisitions and partnerships over the past three years, according to Reuters, and Novartis insists its guidance remains intact and says other medicines acquired through the transaction still have meaningful potential. The balance sheet shows why investors are watching closely: Novartis produced $8.9 billion in first-half free cash flow, while acquisitions and intangible-asset transactions consumed $15.3 billion, roughly 1.7 times that cash generation. Adding $9.1 billion of dividends and $3.1 billion of treasury-share outflows brings the cited cash demands to $27.5 billion, and net debt consequently surged from $21.9 billion to $39.4 billion, leaving less room for expensive mistakes and raising pressure on management to turn purchased science into commercial wins. Its U.S.-listed shares traded at $137.58, yet remained roughly 14% lower across five sessions, and the stock trades 5.36% above its $130.58 GF Value.
High-Grade Bond Issuance Hits $57 Billion in Two Days After Labor Day
High-grade bond issuance surged to $57 billion across 30 offerings on Tuesday and Wednesday alone in the holiday-shortened week after Labor Day, putting September on pace for a fourth straight monthly record. June, July and August totals of $184 billion, $137 billion and $151 billion were the highest ever for those months, according to LCD, and syndicate desks are now suggesting September supply of well over $200 billion, which would supplant last September's unprecedented $189 billion output. That year-ago record included the first major shot in the ongoing AI debt barrage, an $18 billion blockbuster print for Oracle, whose 5.95% notes due 2055 now yield roughly 7.875% on dollar prices south of 79% of par, with investors demanding spreads of T+245 versus the T+125 pricing level a year earlier. This week's biggest deals are GlaxoSmithKline's $6.5 billion offering backing its Nuvalent acquisition and a $6 billion print for UBS, though the week's average deal size of $1.9 billion trails this year's record-setting average through August by about $220 million. Roughly 20% of last month's proceeds, or $31 billion across 10 offerings, were earmarked for M&A funding, the highest share since May, while August data center and AI financing cooled from the prior two months but still included Alphabet's $25 billion package of 10 tranches and Blackstone-backed QTS Central Issuer's debut $3.9 billion offering of 6.625% five-year senior secured data center bonds.
Novartis' del-desiran and pelacarsen trial failures hit pipeline
Novartis AG suffered a major setback after its experimental drug del-desiran failed a late-stage trial for myotonic dystrophy type 1, a rare muscle-wasting disease with no approved treatments, missing statistical significance over placebo on the primary endpoint of video hand opening time. The failure came just days after Novartis' cholesterol drug pelacarsen also failed a major late-stage study, and del-desiran was one of the key assets acquired through Novartis' $12 billion acquisition of Avidity Biosciences, where Barclays analysts had estimated peak annual sales of about $3.1 billion and assigned it a 60% probability of success. The two failures increase pressure on CEO Vas Narasimhan as Novartis seeks to replace revenue from established medicines such as Entresto ahead of future patent expirations, though the company reaffirmed its target of 5%-6% annual sales growth through 2030. Attention now falls on remibrutinib, which recently succeeded in a late-stage multiple-sclerosis study, with additional data in another indication expected later this year and analysts seeing it as potentially capable of generating billions of dollars in peak annual sales. Novartis is evaluating the full del-desiran dataset and plans to engage with regulators, leaving some possibility the program could have a future depending on the underlying data and trial interpretation.
UBS Prefers Gold Over Platinum After Second Straight Quarterly Surplus
UBS told clients in a note Thursday that it prefers gold over platinum heading into the fourth quarter, citing weaker fundamentals for the white metal after a second consecutive quarterly surplus. Strategist Giovanni Staunovo said the platinum market was oversupplied again in the second quarter, and the World Platinum Investment Council estimated that surplus at 244,000 ounces, equivalent to 15% of global demand, while revising the first-quarter surplus higher to 304,000 ounces. For the full year, the council now sees a surplus of 265,000 ounces, a sharp swing from a previously forecast deficit, driven primarily by weaker investment demand. Staunovo attributed the oversupply to recovering mine supply in South Africa and Zimbabwe after last year's flooding, higher scrap volumes and softer demand, with Chinese jewelry demand weakening and autocatalyst demand falling as rising electric-vehicle adoption cut production of combustion-engine cars. He added that with platinum again more expensive than palladium, new vehicle models may revert to palladium-based catalysts, and that UBS forecasts point to modest downside from current levels in the near term followed by broadly sideways prices over the next 12 months.
Artisan Partners Urges Novartis Board Shake-Up Over M&A Oversight
A top-20 Novartis AG shareholder is publicly pressing the Swiss drugmaker for a board shake-up and stronger oversight of acquisitions after back-to-back clinical trial failures sent the stock to a record fall. David Samra, managing director at Artisan Partners and founding partner of International Value Group, told Reuters he wants Board Chairman Giovanni Caforio to improve board talent and create a dedicated acquisition committee to review potential deals, calling the current dealmaking team "uninspiring at best." Samra cited the 2024 acquisition of German biotech MorphoSys, whose value Novartis wrote down just months later, and the $12 billion Avidity deal, arguing management should face financial penalties if an acquisition's value drops to zero. He also urged the board to reform executive compensation, saying current pay models lean too heavily on adjusted metrics that exclude writedowns. Samra said he does not blame CEO Vas Narasimhan, praising his leadership of the business, and Artisan is the first shareholder to demand board reforms publicly. Novartis shares were up 1.30% at $139.27 in premarket trading Friday.
India Moves Toward Red Warning Labels for Sweet, Fatty and Salty Foods as Packaged Food Market Reaches 137 Billion Dollars
India's Food Safety and Standards Authority, known as FSSAI, is considering stricter red warning labels on foods that exceed government thresholds for added sugar, salt or saturated fat, after a Supreme Court judge questioned its original plan to phase in the measures gradually. The proposal has sparked a nationwide debate over how India became so heavily reliant on cheap packaged foods, while some major food companies sell the same branded products in overseas markets with different recipes or ingredients. Sugar has drawn particular attention, because data released by Novo Nordisk in July showed that more than 101 million people in India have diabetes and another 136 million are prediabetic, roughly a quarter of the world's patients. India's packaged food market is growing rapidly, with IMARC Group estimating its value rose to 137.25 billion dollars in 2026 from 129.18 billion dollars in 2025, and is likely to reach 238.83 billion dollars by 2034. A clear example is Nestlé's Maggi masala instant noodles, consumed in households and at roadside eateries across India about 6 billion times a year, with the recipe sold in India using palm oil while many versions in Britain use the more expensive sunflower oil, and KitKat sold in India containing less cocoa than the version in Australia. The All India Food Processors' Association estimates that if India adopts the proposed labeling rules, as much as 80% of packaged foods could be flagged as high in fat, sugar or salt, while Chile, which began enforcing its food labeling law in 2016, saw purchases of sugary drinks fall 23.7% after the rules took effect.
Government in talks with 10 global drugmakers to draw research investment into Thailand, starting with a 2 billion baht MSD deal
The government is pressing ahead with negotiations with 10 global pharmaceutical companies to attract clinical research investment, manufacturing technology transfer, and workforce development into Thailand under a strategy to position the country as a Medical Investment Hub. Lalida Periswiwatana, deputy spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office, said on September 11, 2026, that the approach falls under the Joint Public-Private Committee for Solving Economic Problems, known as the Kor Or, chaired by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and the subcommittee on developing new national investment, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas. The government is applying an Offset Policy concept in talks with foreign companies so that government procurement extends into domestic investment. The Ministry of Public Health, under Minister Phatana Promphat, is negotiating with all 10 drugmakers, with the Board of Investment joining in considering investment promotion measures. Cooperation with MSD is the first Quick Win to show concrete results, with one new drug research program carrying an investment value of about 2 billion baht and the potential to create roughly 1,000 jobs. There are also plans to extend cooperation on technology transfer and the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or APIs, for a new HIV drug together with the Government Pharmaceutical Organization. Lalida said that within about two weeks the government plans to sign an additional cooperation agreement with Sandoz to draw global companies into investing and generating economic activity in Thailand, rather than having the public sector simply buy products from abroad.
Medacta H1 2026 Revenue Rises Nearly 10% to EUR368 Million, Confirms 2026 Outlook
Medacta Group SA reported H1 2026 revenue of EUR368 million, up almost 10% at constant currency, with adjusted EBITDA of EUR97 million and a 27.8% margin at constant currency. Net profit came in at EUR42 million, or 11.4% of revenue, while adjusted comparable net profit was EUR49 million versus EUR46 million a year earlier. Gross margin fell to 65.2% from 68.3% on adverse FX, price erosion and unfavorable geographic and product mix, and free cash flow was negative EUR18.6 million as operating cash flow slipped to about EUR56 million from EUR73 million. Regionally, EMEA grew 10%, APAC 13.1%, Latin America 16.4% and North America 7%, while Spine grew just 4.5% amid a strategic refocus on enabling technology and direct sales. Medacta confirmed its 2026 outlook for revenue growth of 10% to 14% and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of around 50 basis points at constant currency, alongside a midterm revenue CAGR of 12% to 15%.
Novartis' experimental medicine pelacarsen failed the Phase 3 Lp(a)HORIZON study, lowering lipoprotein(a) but not producing a statistically significant reduction in cardiovascular events. Bank of America estimates the miss creates only low-single-digit percentage downside to its net-present-value calculation for Novartis and maintained its Buy rating and $185 price target, with attention shifting to four other Phase 3 readouts expected in the second half of 2026. Novartis reported 39 Phase 3 projects and three programs in registration in its second-quarter presentation, and second-quarter 2026 sales reached $14.41 billion, up 3% on a reported basis and 1% in constant currencies, with management reaffirming low-single-digit constant-currency sales growth for the year. Citi analyst Eric Joseph expects less than 5% immediate downside for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which discovered pelacarsen and licensed it to Novartis in 2019, saying the result should not affect Ionis' fiscal 2026 guidance and maintaining a Buy rating and $100 price target. Novartis' first-half net income declined 16% on a reported basis while core operating income fell 6%.
Novartis's Remibrutinib Beats Sanofi's Aubagio in Two Late-Stage MS Trials
Novartis's oral drug remibrutinib outperformed Sanofi's older multiple-sclerosis treatment teriflunomide in reducing relapses across two late-stage studies, REMODEL-1 and REMODEL-2, marking the first major success from three closely watched pipeline programs expected to produce clinical data in 2026. Novartis said remibrutinib also showed clinically meaningful results in slowing disability progression and was well tolerated with no liver-safety issues, a key point for a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, a class that has previously faced regulatory problems over liver toxicity. UBS analyst Matt Weston called it potentially a best-in-class oral treatment. Novartis plans to submit remibrutinib for global regulatory approval and will present full results at a medical conference in Toronto; the drug is already approved for one chronic inflammatory skin condition involving severe hives, sold as Rhapsido, which generated $64 million in second-quarter sales. Analysts estimate remibrutinib could generate as much as $9 billion in peak annual sales across all indications, though that figure assumes successful development and approvals in multiple sclerosis, additional skin disease, and food allergies, and two patients died during the studies, which analysts said were unrelated to treatment but still intend to examine in the detailed safety data. Remibrutinib is the first of three programs, alongside pelacarsen and del-desiran, collectively seen generating more than $10 billion in peak annual sales as Novartis faces generic pressure on its blockbuster heart-failure medicine Entresto.