No­var­tis’ part­ners at Cona­tus have an­oth­er NASH set­back to con­fess to­day

Eight months af­ter Cona­tus’ ex­ecs tried un­suc­cess­ful­ly to sell a sil­ver-lin­ing play­book sto­ry to in­vestors about the fail­ure of a Phase IIb tri­al for their drug em­ri­c­as­an in fi­bro­sis and cir­rho­sis, they’re back with an­oth­er failed Phase IIb — and once again they’ve set out to try and sell it as a win.

Cona­tus’ $CNAT shares were evis­cer­at­ed on Thurs­day, falling 52% in ear­ly trad­ing as in­vestors reg­is­tered their deep dis­con­tent hav­ing been forced to bot­tle their fury when the da­ta were re­leased on Wednes­day as the stock mar­ket was closed to hon­or George HW Bush’s fu­ner­al in Wash­ing­ton.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER