Novartis shares fell 3.2% in European morning trading Monday after experimental medicine pelacarsen failed to reduce cardiovascular risk in a large, late-stage study of patients with high Lp(a), an inherited cholesterol-related risk factor with no approved targeted treatments. The decline reduced Novartis’ year-to-date gains to 14%; a market listing showed the stock down 3.61%, while an earlier report cited a 3.3% drop. The result casts doubt on the therapeutic approach, raises the bar for rival Lp(a)-lowering drugs from Amgen and Eli Lilly, and increases pressure on data for experimental muscular dystrophy drug del-desiran, a gene therapy Novartis acquired for $12 billion last year. Analysts had estimated peak annual pelacarsen sales of $3 billion to $6 billion.