Investing.com -- Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AGIO) shares fell 25% Monday after rival Novo Nordisk released positive data for its experimental sickle cell disease therapy.

Novo Nordisk said etavopivat demonstrated a 27% reduction in vaso-occlusive crisis events and approximately four-month delay to first vaso-occlusive crisis event on top of standard of care in patients with sickle cell disease.

The data comes as Agios works with the FDA to find a path forward for its own sickle cell drug candidate, mitapivat, under an accelerated approval pathway. Agios is developing mitapivat as an experimental therapy for the same indication.

Truist analyst Gregory Renza, who maintains a buy rating on Agios, commented that the "competitor trial win for Etavopivat in SCD creates separation amongst PK class candidates." Renza noted that while Agios shares could face pressure from Novo’s data, "we believe the majority of the impact of the mix data has been baked into the stock at this point."

The analyst added that "we come away still seeing a place for mitapivat in SCD given the high unmet need globally, and an opportunity for AGIO to leverage growing infrastructure and trust amongst the heme disease community."

Stifel analyst James Condulis wrote that "Etavopivat met its primary endpoints, which is surprising after AGIO’s setback." He noted that "this is arguably most negative for AGIO’s AA (same MOA/failed ph3)."