Novartis boasts strong sales for 2008
pharmafile | February 11, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing |Â Â NovartisÂ
Novartis has weathered the financial downturn and delivered a strong performance for 2008.
Overall group sales were boosted by 9% to over $41 billion and its pharma division alone rose 10% on last year.
Novartis chairman and chief executive Daniel Vasella acknowledged the achievements of the last twelve months.
He said, "Pharmaceuticals returned to dynamic growth and gained market share in the second half of the year, while Vaccines and Diagnostics continued its double digit growth."
Cardiovascular blockbuster Diovan continued its steady performance while the company's oncology portfolio brought in $26.3bn, representing 32% of pharmaceutical sales, owing largely to Glivec and breast cancer drug Femara.
Sales figures were also boosted by a $2.9bn contribution from recently launched pharma products such as eye therapy Lucentis and osteoporosis drug Aclasta.
Vasella noted that several acquisitions had also improved the company's standing, the most important being a 25% share of Alcon.
Overall he said Novartis could predict another good year for 2009, though achieving slightly lower overall sales of mid single-digit growth.
Analysts at Citigroup said Novartis' resilience in the harsh current climate was largely down to 'project-forward' – a streamlining programme announced in 2007 that involved cutting around 2,500 jobs to save $1.6 billion by 2010. Analysts say it proved key in allowing the drug unit to achieve such good full-year growth.
Novartis' original savings target for 2008 was $670 million, but its actual savings to date are just over $1bn, indicating the total funds saved by 2010 could exceed the original $1.6bn target.
But there is a potential low risk to Novartis' long-term growth, according to Citigroup, in the shape of the looming patent expiry for its blood pressure lowering drug Diovan.
They stressed that follow up medicine Tekturna was key to limiting the sales decline when Diovan loses its European patent in 2010 and the US equivalent two years later.
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