Ionis, Akcea succeed in heart drug trial, setting up Novartis decision

Akcea Therapeutics and Ionis Pharmaceuticals rolled out successful Phase 2 study results Wednesday showing their drug candidate lowered Lp(a), short for lipoprotein(a), levels in patients with cardiovascular disease, setting up a decision for its research partner Novartis to exercise a licensing option and lead the therapy into a Phase 3 trial.