Why two promising heart drugs flopped and what's next

The biotech industry faces a significant shift in cardiovascular drug development following the high-profile failure of therapies targeting Lp(a) and IL-6. Despite these setbacks, the FDA continues to maintain a steady pace of approvals, including novel treatments for melanoma and rare diseases. However, growing concerns regarding clinical trial transparency have emerged, particularly after companies failed to proactively disclose patient deaths in CAR-T and gene therapy trials. Cardiologist and biotech executive Ethan Weiss notes that these failures, occurring despite strong genetic validation, will likely dampen investor appetite for expensive, long-term cardiovascular outcome studies. This environment forces a critical reexamination of whether current drug development strategies adequately address residual risk in patients already receiving optimal standard-of-care therapies, potentially leading to a more cautious approach toward future high-stakes cardiovascular research.