By Millie Turner
Investors have bailed out of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) after the British pharmaceutical booked its second late-trial pipeline disappointment in just a few weeks.
GSK’s stock price plunged more than four per cent to £13.48 per share by mid-afternoon.
The firm announced this morning that its blood cancer drug Blenrep was no more effective than existing treatments.
The drug had been pegged by GSK bosses as having the potential to help the firm achieve combined peak-year sales of more than £20bn.
The disappointment follows that of rheumatoid arthritis drug Otilimab in late October, which was dropped after late-stage trials failed to show the desired efficacy.
Otilimab, alongside Blenrep, was among a list of 11 assets outlined by GSK that could reach peak sales of between £1bn and £2bn.
A large portion of investor confidence now hangs on GSK’s renal anaemia drug Daprodustat, another of the firm’s top pipeline potentials.
At the end of last month, an FDA advisory panel voted in favour of the drug’s approval for adult patients on dialysis but voted against it being used on patients not on dialysis.
It takes GSK a step closer to securing its first drug approval since the split from its consumer health unit Haleon in July.
The non-dialysis segment is, however, is a key part of GSK’s hopes of £500m to £1bn in peak sales for the drug.
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