Europe pharma stocks take fall

European stocks have fallen today in the wake of drug test failures announced by both Actelion and AstraZeneca.

Europe's largest biotech Actelion fell 8 per cent after its haemorrhage drug clazosentan failed in a late-stage study, lessening the chances of it making it to market.

AstraZeneca lost 1.5 per cent after the company's experimental prostate cancer pill zibotentan failed to improve survival in a late-stage clinical trial, dealing a fresh blow to its oncology pipeline.

"We've seen a bit of a pause for breath today and it seems like the market is running out of a bit of steam," said Joshua Raymond, markets strategist at City Index.