Morning News

Novartis’s Ianalumab Meets Goals in Phase 3 Trial to Treat Autoimmune Disease

By Thomas BIANCATO
Published on Wed, 13.Aug.2025

Topic of the day

Novartis said its ianalumab drug combined with eltrombopag met the primary endpoint in a late-stage trial, demonstrating a significant improvement in time to treatment failure for patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia. The Swiss pharmaceutical company said Tuesday that the drug achieved the primary goal in a phase 3 trial. The drug prolonged the duration of safe platelet levels during and after treatment in patients with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) who had previously been treated with corticosteroids, Novartis said. Time to treatment failure was the primary endpoint of the study, and assessed how long patients maintained safe platelet levels during and after the treatment period. ITP is a rare, autoimmune disorder which causes the immune system to mistakenly target and destroy platelets which are the cells essential for blood clotting, Novartis said. Patients also experienced a significantly higher rate of sustained improvements in platelet count. This was the key secondary endpoint of the study, Novartis added. Novartis said it expects to present the data at a coming medical meeting, and plans for the data to be included in future regulatory submissions in 2027.

Swiss stocks

The Swiss market ended marginally up on Tuesday after a choppy ride, with investors mostly making their moves, reacting to recent earnings updates. The benchmark SMI ended with a gain of 16.42 points or 0.14% at 11,886.41, slightly off the day's high of 11,895.86. The index touched a low of 11,828.25 in the session. Straumann Holding gained about 3.1%. Sandoz Group and ABB climbed 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively. Logitech International gained 1.37% and Kuehne + Nagel ended 1.3% up. Holcim, VAT Group, Amrize, Sonova, Lonza Group, SIG Group, Zurich Insurance and SGS gained 0.4 to 1%. Swiss Re and Adecco ended more than 1% down. Lindt & Spruengli closed nearly 1% down. Nestle, Partners Group and Swisscom lost 0.4 to 0.6%.

International markets

Europe
European stocks closed broadly higher on Tuesday amid easing trade tensions after the U.S. extended its pause on higher tariffs for Chinese goods until November 10, averting an immediate escalation in the trade war. Expectations of a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September contributed as well to the positive show by most of the markets in Europe. The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.21%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.2% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.71%, while Germany's DAX closed down 0.23%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.14% up. Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended higher. Austria and Turkiye closed weak, while Belgium and Iceland ended flat. In the UK market, Spirax Group soared nearly 13%. The British industrial thermal energy and fluid technology company posted first-half 2025 earnings that beat expectations. Ashtead Group gained about 4%. IAG, Airtel Africa, Melrose Industries, JD Sports Fashion, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Pershing Square Holdings, Standard Chartered, Mondi and Antofagasta climbed 2 to 3.1%. Property investor and developer Derwent London declined sharply after announcing the retirement of Executive Director Nigel George. Ladbrokes owner Entain closed with a sharp loss, despite reporting strong first-half results and lifting its full-year expectations. The Sage Group shares closed down 4.7%. National Grid, United Utilities, Land Securities, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Pearson, SSE, Relx and Croda International also closed notably lower. In Germany, Sartorius ralied more than 7%, lifted by a rating upgrade by Jefferies. Infineon and Siemens Energy, both gained more than 4%. Merck, Deutsche Post, MTU Aero Engines, Henkel, Continental, Commerzbank, Adidas, Qiagen, Siemens, Rheinmetall, Deutsche Telekom and Volkswagen gained 1 to 3%. SAP ended lower by about 7%. Hannover Rueck ended down by about 3.4% despite reporting higher net income and reinsurance revenue in the first half of the year.

United States
After ending Monday's choppy trading session moderately lower, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday. The major averages more than offset the losses posted in the previous session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reaching new record closing highs. The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq surged 296.50 points or 1.4 percent to 21,681.90, the S&P 500 jumped 72.31 points or 1.1 percent to 6,445.76 and the Dow shot up 483.52 points or 1.1 percent to 44,458.61. The strength on Wall Street came following the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation in the month of July. The Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.2 percent in July after climbing by 0.3 percent in June. The modest increase matched expectations. The annual rate of growth by consumer prices in July was unchanged from the previous month at 2.7 percent, while economists had expected the pace of growth to tick up to 2.8 percent. Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, with the NYSE Arca Airline Index soaring by 9.3 percent to its best closing level in five months. Significant strength was also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 3.0 percent surge by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. Steel, housing, banking and computer hardware stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Asia
In the wake of stronger U.S. stock markets with new record highs, the Nikkei 225 dynamically extended its strong gains to a record high from the previous day. With a further increase of 1.6 percent to 43,397 points, it surpassed the 43,000-point mark for the first time in its history. Hong Kong was the day's winner with a jump of 1.9 percent.

Bonds
In the U.S. bond market, treasuries moved back to the downside following yesterday's modest rebound. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose 2.0 basis points to 4.293 percent.

Analysis
UBS raises Sandoz target to CHF 47 (37) – Neutral
UBS lowers Orsted target to DKK 360 (400) – Buy
Citi lowers Salzgitter target to EUR 25 (27) – Neutral

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