Del-desiran was one of three clinical setbacks for Novartis within a week. On September 4, Novartis and Ionis Pharmaceuticals acknowledged that pelacarsen failed the Phase III Lp(a)HORIZON trial by missing its primary endpoint of reducing the risk of cardiovascular events. Two days earlier, Novartis paused eight trials assessing its autoimmune and neurological disease candidate rapcabtagene autoleucel (rap-cel), after three patients treated died after experiencing immune effector cell-associated hemophagocytic syndrome.