Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 366 points, or 0.7%, far more than the S&P 500's 0.2% retreat. The gap traces to Amgen's premarket slide, triggered by a failed Novartis drug trial that also hit smaller biotech names.
Amgen's slide widens the gap
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 366 points, or 0.7%, compared with a more modest 0.2% retreat for the S&P 500 futures. The gap traces back to the Dow's price-weighted structure and one stock in particular: Amgen.
Amgen shares fell about $25, or 6%, in premarket trading. That move alone accounted for 158 points of the Dow's decline, because Amgen carries the fourth-highest share price in the index. Amgen, by contrast, ranks only 49th by size among S&P 500 stocks, so the same one-day move barely registers there.
A rival's failed trial triggers the selloff
Amgen's decline traces back to a setback at rival Novartis. Novartis said on Friday night that a late-stage trial of its experimental cardiovascular drug pelacarsen did not meet its primary endpoint. According to MarketWatch, Citi analysts called the news "surprising" and said it's bad for other companies targeting lipoprotein(a), a type of cholesterol that raises the risk of heart disease and stroke and isn't helped by statin drugs.
NewAmsterdam Pharma, a smaller company working on the same target, dropped about 10% in premarket trading on Tuesday.
Novartis stock tumbles on a second setback
Novartis's own stock fell 3% Monday in Swiss trade, then tumbled another 10% Tuesday after a second piece of bad news: a late-stage trial of del-desiran, aimed at the muscular disease myotonic dystrophy type 1, also missed its primary endpoint.
Dyne Therapeutics, which is developing a drug for the same disease, lost a quarter of its value in premarket trade.
Source: MarketWatch
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