'Pure-play' Novartis raises 2024 financial targets / Photo: © AFP/File
'Pure-play' Novartis raises 2024 financial targets
Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis raised its 2024 financial targets Tuesday after posting rising sales and margins in the third quarter, thanks in part to increased production of a prostate cancer drug.
A year after spinning off its generics business to become a "pure-player" developer of innovative medicines, Novartis registered a 15 percent increase in its core net profit to $4.1 billion during the July-September period, from the same quarter last year.
Sales rose by nine percent to $12.8 billion, with the gain driven by higher volumes, including a 50 percent jump in sales of Pluvicto prostate cancer treatment thanks to a new production facility receiving certification in the United States.
Novartis now expects "low double-digit" 2024 net sales growth, up from earlier guidance of high single to low double-digit increase.
It sees a "high teens" increase in core operating profits, up from its earlier forecast of a mid to high teens increase. Core operating profit rose 17 percent in the first nine months of the year.
A.Fernández--ESF
