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Roche’s<\/a> shares dropped more than 5% on Monday as the \u200bSwiss drugmaker failed to show that its promising breast cancer drug \u200ccandidate giredestrant can help newly diagnosed patients.<\/p>\n At 0956 GMT, the stock trimmed early some losses to trade 4.6% lower at 325.80 Swiss francs, its lowest level in about two \u200bmonths.<\/p>\n Roche said the late-stage trial did not provide reliable evidence that \u200bthe drug’s use in combination with Pfizer’s Ibrance as a first \u2060treatment slows disease progression when compared with a standard hormonal therapy plus \u200bIbrance, missing the study’s goal.<\/p>\n Barclays analyst James Gordon said “shares could overreact on sentiment,” \u200badding that it was a buying opportunity as the commercial opportunity of add-on treatments is not fully appreciated by the market.<\/p>\n The data marked a reversal of fortunes for Roche’s drug. Last \u200byear, a late-stage trial showed the oral compound cut the risk of tumour \u200brecurrence in breast cancer patients who had received the established initial treatment, boosting Roche’s shares.<\/p>\n “We expect \u200cthis \u2060should completely reverse the positive momentum from late last year on positive readouts,” said Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten.<\/p>\n Giredestrant belongs to a drug class known as oral selective oestrogen receptor degraders (SERD), used to fight tumours that grow in response to \u200boestrogen \u2014 accounting for up \u200bto 80% of \u2060all breast cancer cases.<\/p>\n