As a result of lower flu vaccine sales and a cancer drug candidate write-down, Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX) posted a 6% decline to $2.17 million in net income for the fourth quarter of 2010. However, this still beat the average forecast if $2.05 of 10 analysts polled by Bloomberg.
Net sales rose 10% (+11% at constant currency) to $14.2 billion. Revenue from Alcon, the ophthalmic firm acquired last year, were $1.8 billion for the quarter. Unfavorable currency movements depressed the result by 1 percentage point (excluding Alcon). Recently launched products provided $2.5 billion of net sales in the 2010 period, which represent 20% of total sales (excluding Alcon).
Pharmaceuticals sales for the three months grew 3% (+4% cc) to $8.0 billion driven by 7 percentage points of volume expansion, offset by 3 percentage points of price erosion. Recently launched products contributed 23% of Pharmaceuticals sales, up from 18% in 2009.
This article is accessible to registered users, to continue reading please register for free. A free trial will give you access to exclusive features, interviews, round-ups and commentary from the sharpest minds in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology space for a week. If you are already a registered user please login. If your trial has come to an end, you can subscribe here.
Login to your accountTry before you buy
7 day trial access
Become a subscriber
Or £77 per month
The Pharma Letter is an extremely useful and valuable Life Sciences service that brings together a daily update on performance people and products. It’s part of the key information for keeping me informed
Chairman, Sanofi Aventis UK
Copyright © The Pharma Letter 2025 | Headless Content Management with Blaze