Agios halts development of sickle cell drug tebapivat after mid-stage trial failure

Agios announced it will stop developing tebapivat for sickle cell disease after a mid-stage trial did not meet expectations.

The drug, a next-generation pyruvate kinase activator related to the approved mitapivat, failed to show sufficient differentiation to justify further work, according to the company's statement.

The setback removes Agios's chance to compete with Novo Nordisk, which recently reported positive Phase 3 data for its own enzyme activator. Agios shares fell about 6.5% to roughly $37.50 after the news.