AstraZeneca-Ionis drug fails to meet main goal in late-stage heart disease trial

AstraZeneca said on Thursday its nerve disease drug Wainua, made in partnership with U.S.-based Ionis, failed to meet the main goal of reducing cardiovascular deaths and recurring heart problems in a late-stage trial.

The trial was for patients with a type of heart disease that let protein build-up in the heart disrupt blood pumping and possibly cause heart failure. Adding Wainua to standard care did not provide a statistically significant benefit, the trial found.

Wainua is approved in more than 20 countries to treat patients with polyneuropathy, a life-shortening rare disease that causes nerve damage.

In the late-stage trial, Wainua was being tested in 1,432 patients compared to placebo over 140 weeks.

(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 11:38 PM.