Novartis Q3: Jimenez talks up Alcon, Gleevec takes generic hammering

Novartis released its Q3 financials and, despite Gleevec dipping significantly due to generic competition, still managed to report sales of $12.4 billion, up 2% on the previous year’s results.

With Joseph Jimenez officially on his way out as CEO of the Swiss-based company at the beginning of 2018, the subsequent posting of positive financials would have been a cause of some satisfaction; it was the first time that Novartis had reported an increase in core earnings per share since the end of 2014.

 In particular, Jimenez was keen to point to the 7% growth in the Alcon unit – an area that has consistently been a source of frustration for the company.

It brought forward, again, the question over the future of the unit. The company said that no action would be taken on the future until the first half of 2019, giving Novartis enough time to see whether the growth of the unit was a short-term boost or whether it could be sustained.

Regardless, the positive news on Alcon will be a bonus either way – it makes it a more attractive prospective for a potential takeover, should it be spun-out into a stand-alone company, or it could become a growth generator within Novartis, though this seems the less-likely option.

Jimenez had mooted a figure of between $25 billion and $35 billion of any spin-off, citing the lack of healthcare assets within this region on the market.

Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis, said:

"Novartis became the first company to commercialize a CAR-T therapy, Kymriah, in Q3. Group sales were solid, with growth in all divisions, and Alcon delivered strong growth in both sales and core operating income. We are on track to deliver our full year guidance, and have confidence in our growth phase."

One serious negative, that was otherwise expected, was the huge dent into the sales of Gleevec, a treatment for leukaemia. Sales have been on a consistent downward spiral since the release of generic versions of the treatment in August of 2016.

However, it was particularly evident in the Q3 financials the damage done – with sales of Gleevec in the same quarter last year being as high as $843 million, which were down by 47%, in the US, to $445 million in the Q3 posting.

Vas Narasimhan, current Head of Drug Development, is poised to take over from Jimenez in February of 2018 – with the uncertain future of Alcon set to be the major decision that he will have face once entering the role.