Roche Suffers Setback as Lung Drug Fails Late-Stage Trial

A Roche Holding AG experimental lung drug failed in a late-stage study conducted on a broad population of current and former smokers, a setback in a newly competitive field.

The medicine, astegolimab, didn’t reduce the number of so-called exacerbations — a sudden worsening in airway function — in a statistically significant way in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, the drugmaker said Monday. Roche shares fell as much as 1.6% in early Zurich trading, wiping out gains for the year.