Novartis CEO: ‘Our strategy is bearing fruit’ snbchf.com

by
Swissinfo
My articles My site About me My videos My books
Follow on:Twitter Facebook Google +

Novartis CEO: ‘Our strategy is bearing fruit’ — Vasant (Vas) Narasimhan has been CEO of Novartis since February 2018. Keystone / Georgios Kefalas

Generated with artificial intelligence.

Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan sees his company on a good growth trajectory in the coming years. In an interview with Swiss paper Finanz und Wirtschaft (Finance and Economy), he also emphasised his commitment to Switzerland as a business location.

This content was published on November 2, 2024 - 11:05

Keystone-SDA

+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Narasimhan is confident that Novartis will achieve its goal of increasing sales by an average of 5% annually by 2028. This will be made possible by eight to nine medicines, which Novartis expects to generate billions in sales. “The bigger challenge is to replenish the mid- and late-stage development pipeline so that we can grow until 2030 and beyond,” he told Finanz and Wirtschaft.

According to Narasimhan, the expiry of patents over the next few years is also not a threat to Novartis’s growth target. “Key products such as the psoriasis treatment Cosentyx, whose patent protection extends until the end of the decade, and numerous other products that are already on the market, as well as market launches, should make this possible,” he said. Until then, Novartis is not dependent on acquisitions to achieve its goals.

Whatever happened to the world’s most expensive drug?

This content was published on Apr 23, 2024 Swiss pharma giant Novartis launched Zolgensma five years ago with a price tag of $2.1 million. What happened to it?

Nevertheless, Novartis wants to keep its eyes open for acquisitions. Narasimhan wants to concentrate primarily on Novartis’s core therapeutic areas and on technologies in which Novartis is a leader or wants to become one.

The focus will be on smaller acquisitions. However, Novartis will continue to look for larger deals of up to $10 billion or more. However, the track record for these big deals is “rather poor”, Narasimhan continued.

Sales and profit growth expected in 2025

Although Novartis has not yet issued any guidance for 2025, Narasimhan expects both sales and profit growth next year. Growth is then expected to accelerate further in the coming years.

The company’s market capitalisation was around $200 billion, with Alcon, Sandoz and the over-the-counter drug business still part of the group. Today, it is around $230 billion. If you add in the value of Alcon and Sandoz, the result is value creation of around $100 billion. “This shows that our strategy is bearing fruit,” Narasimhan said.

+ What’s behind the Novartis job cuts?

Narasimhan considers the core profit margin of 40% achieved for the first time in the third quarter to be sufficient. “Higher margins are generally not rewarded in the pharmaceutical industry, as they come at the expense of investments in research, development and sales growth,” the company boss continued. He would therefore rather look for opportunities to invest in research and development or to accelerate the market launch.

Commitment to Switzerland

In the interview, he refuted speculation that he wanted to leave Switzerland. He emphasised that he has now lived in Switzerland for ten years and is firmly anchored here. “Our lives take place here,” he said.

Novartis is also firmly anchored in Switzerland and Basel. Switzerland is part of Novartis’s identity. “That will remain so. We are focusing on further expanding the success of Novartis,” Narasimhan continued. This will bring more prosperity to Switzerland in the long term.

Inflation Reduction Act

Novartis has already factored price reductions due to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in the US into its forecasts. “The biggest concern is that the shortened duration of free pricing and the planned extension of price negotiations to more and more medicines will prevent the development of some medicines in future,” the company boss continued. This would inhibit innovation.

Roche’s big bet on big diseases

This content was published on Oct 20, 2024 Swiss pharma giant Roche is the latest company to refocus its R&D investment on diseases like obesity that weigh heavily on healthcare budgets.

For example, this could inhibit the development of new drugs for rare diseases, neurosciences or heart disease. Narasimhan cited the drug Kisqali as an example. If the IRA had been in force before, its efficacy in patients with breast cancer would hardly have been investigated, as the price protection would have expired. “Millions of women would not have received better treatment to prevent a recurrence of their breast cancer,” Narasimhan told the paper.

Politicians had not considered this when designing the IRA. According to Narasimhan, “they should understand it now because otherwise whole classes of drugs will not be developed.”

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to [email protected].

Swiss to reduce administrative burden on farms from 2026

This content was published on Nov 2, 2024 From 2026, the number of inspections of farms is to be reduced, without any loss of quality, said economics minister Guy Parmelin.

Swiss insurance boss proposes Singapore-style healthcare system

This content was published on Nov 2, 2024 CEO of Swiss health insurer Sanitas has said that healthcare costs could be reduced if Switzerland were to follow the Singapore model.

Swiss minister talks crime and security in visit to the Netherlands

This content was published on Nov 2, 2024 Swiss justice minister Beat Jans spent two days in the Netherlands discussing security, police cooperation and justice with international bodies.

Study finds more heavy metal detected in Swiss grassland

This content was published on Nov 2, 2024 Copper and zinc can be expected to accumulate in the soil, particularly if farmyard manure is used for several years and is greater than the amount of nutrients absorbed by the grass. This was announced by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) on Friday. The findings are based on the results of the seventh National Soil Monitoring of Switzerland (Nabo).

Lilo Baur wins Swiss Grand Prix for performing arts

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 The Swiss actress and theatre director Lilo Baur has received this year's Swiss Grand Prix for Performing Arts, also known as the Hans Reinhart Ring.

Court rules al-Qaeda supporter can stay in Switzerland

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 A Kurdish supporter of the Islamist terrorist network al-Qaeda can stay in Switzerland, the Federal Administrative Court has ruled. It has withdrawn the annulment of the man’s provisional admission.

Swiss prosecutors close VW ‘Dieselgate’ case

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) has closed criminal proceedings relating to the Swiss owners affected by the Volkswagen “Dieselgate” emissions scandal.

Q4 job prospects in Switzerland remain stable

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 The employment outlook in Switzerland will remain stable towards the end of 2024, according to the KOF Swiss Economic Institute at ETH Zurich.

Swiss woman accuses Donald Trump of sexual assault

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 A former Miss Switzerland candidate has accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her in New York in 1993. The US Republican candidate’s campaign team has denied the accusations.

Swiss criminal complaint reportedly filed against Prime Energy Cleantech

This content was published on Nov 1, 2024 A criminal complaint has reportedly been filed in Switzerland against the Basel-based company Prime Energy Cleantech.

Full story here Are you the author?

About Swissinfo

SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

My articles My site About me My books
Follow on:Twitter Facebook Google +