Upcoming trend confirmed Novartis' copycat drugs weigh on business at the start of the year
Novartis has clearly felt the dampening effect of generic drugs at the start of the year. Nevertheless, management confirmed its previous outlook for the further course of business on Tuesday.
28.04.2026, 07:27
28.04.2026, 07:36
SDA
Sales for the first quarter amounted to 13.1 billion US dollars. This is a decrease of 1 percent compared to the same period last year. At constant exchange rates (CER), there was a drop of 5 percent. By comparison, revenue in the final quarter of 2025 was up by 1 percent and in the third quarter of the year by 8 percent.
According to its own earlier statements, the pharmaceutical group will experience the heaviest burden from copycat drugs in its history in the coming months because the billion-euro drugs Entresto, Promacta and Tasigna have lost their patent protection. Group CEO Vas Narasimhan estimated the impact on sales at around 4 billion US dollars at the beginning of February. According to the CEO, the impact is likely to be significantly greater in the first half of the year than in the second.
In terms of operating profit, the Basel-based company recorded a decline of 9 percent to 4.2 billion. The bottom line was a consolidated profit of 3.2 billion after 3.6 billion in the same period of the previous year. The decline was mainly due to the lower operating result, the press release explains further.
For analysts, however, the core operating profit adjusted for various factors is the most important factor. At 4.9 billion, this fell by 12 percent and thus fell short of the AWP consensus of 5.2 billion.
The Group confirms its previous target for the year as a whole. At constant exchange rates, the management is aiming for sales growth in the low single-digit percentage range. Core operating profit is expected to decline in the low single-digit percentage range.
