Novartis: shares slump after safety update on Beovu

(CercleFinance.com) - Novartis shares slumped for the second straight day on Tuesday, two days after The American Society of Retina Specialists issued a safety update on the drugmaker's Beovu.


The stock fell by almost 7% on Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, following reports of a serious ocular side effect with its newly launched age-related macular degeneration (AMD) drug Beovu.

In a note to clients, analysts at Bank of America said the issue is "worth watching," but did not change their earnings estimates for the Swiss company.

BofA said "incidence appears very rare" and also noted that third party confirmation of classification has "yet to be established."

The US broker hence maintains its "buy" rating on the stock, saying that Novartis has several other drivers to post above sector mid-term growth excluding Beovu.

The Zurich-listed shares were down 3.4% at 88.2 Swiss francs on Tuesday morning. This adds to their 3.3% fall yesterday.

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