What Happened?
Shares of biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VRTX) fell 17.4% in the afternoon session after the company announced its experimental pain drug, VX-993, failed a key mid-stage clinical trial. The company’s experimental non-opioid painkiller, VX-993, failed to achieve a statistically significant pain reduction compared to a placebo in a mid-stage study. The trial involved patients who had undergone bunionectomy surgery. Following the failure, Vertex Pharmaceuticals stated it would stop the development of VX-993 as a standalone treatment for acute pain. This setback in the company's drug pipeline overshadowed its recently reported strong second-quarter financial results. The news also compounded concerns after the company revealed that expanding the approval for another pain medicine, Journavx, also faced regulatory hurdles.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy Vertex Pharmaceuticals? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s shares are not very volatile and have only had 4 moves greater than 5% over the last year. Moves this big are rare for Vertex Pharmaceuticals and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is down 7.6% since the beginning of the year, and at $375.04 per share, it is trading 27.4% below its 52-week high of $516.74 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,373.
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