Novartis Reports First-quarter Sales Dip Amid Growing US Generic Competition
Novartis (NOVN.SW) on Tuesday reported a decline in first-quarter sales as an expected rise in generic penetration in the US outweighed the momentum of priority brands.Shares in the Swiss drugmaker was down 4% by midday trading.For the three months ended March 31, net sales were down 5% at constant currency to $13.11 billion. Volume added 13 percentage points to growth, but this was more than offset by a hit of 14 percentage points due to generic competition.Key therapies that continued to perform include leukemia treatment Scemblix, which surged 79% at constant currency to $433 million, and breast cancer drug Kisqali, which rose 55% to $1.52 billion. Conversely, revenue from heart failure drug Entresto dropped 46% to $1.31 billion.Against this backdrop, Novartis reiterated its 2026 financial targets, projecting low single-digit growth for net sales alongside a low single-digit decline in core operating income. Should late April exchange rates hold steady through year-end, currency tailwinds are projected to add 2 percentage points to net sales and 1 percentage point to core operating income, the company noted."With the momentum we are seeing across the business, we remain on track to deliver our [full-year] guidance and look forward to multiple readouts in the second half that could raise our mid- to long-term growth outlook," Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan said.Novartis' net income reached $3.16 billion in the first quarter, down from $3.61 billion in the same period a year ago. EPS dropped to $1.65 from $1.83