Novartis Releases Q1 Results, Updates COVID-19 Global Response

Novartis reported net income increased 34% to $3.55 billion in Q1 2020. Sales increased 13% to $12.3 billion. Key growth drivers included Entresto, Zolgensma, Kisqali, and Piqray.

The company also reported product demand continues to remain stable and is working to mitigate disruptions from the supply chain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We continue to deliver our medicines to patients and advance our innovative pipeline as reflected in our strong operational performance in Q1. While there are many uncertainties for the coming year, we are maintaining our full year outlook at this time and will continue to play our part to overcome the pandemic. Our response to the COVID-19 crisis demonstrates Novartis’ relentless commitment to our associates, patients, and the global community. For our associates we’ve committed to no COVID-19 related job losses and a full range of support programs. To support the global public health response, we are engaged in multiple collaborative R&D efforts, large scale clinical trials and donations to support local communities in currently over 60 countries,” Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis, said.

Sandoz net sales were $2.5 billion driven by volume growth of 15 percentage points including COVID-19 related forward purchasing, partly offset by price erosion of 4 percentage points. Excluding the US, net sales grew strongly. Global sales of Biopharmaceuticals grew to $450 million, mainly driven by continued strong double-digit growth in Europe.

Discontinued operations include the business of Alcon and certain Corporate costs directly attributable to Alcon up to the spin-off date. As the Alcon spin-off was completed on April 9, 2019, the first quarter of the prior year includes three months of operating results of the divested business.

Novartis also said in a released statement, it is providing additional paid days off for employees who need to care for ill family members, as well as other programs.

“Importantly, Novartis has made a commitment that there will be no COVID-19 related job losses,” according to the statement.

During the first quarter, COVID-19 did not have a material impact on the company’s underlying business, financial condition, cash collections or liquidity. COVID-19 did result in increased forward purchasing by customers, including at the patient level, as some patients filled prescriptions to cover a longer period of time.

The company is working to continue clinical trials and is leveraging digital tools to limit the disruption. Novartis is experiencing a slowdowns in new enrollments in ongoing clinical studies and start-up with new studies.

Novartis is participating in collaborative research efforts such as the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, coordinated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard, as well as a COVID-19 directed partnership organized by the Innovative Medicines Initiative. Both are cross-sector collaborations that bring several pharmaceutical companies and expert academic institutions into coordinated research programs, with the aim of bringing the most promising molecules forward quickly without organizational barriers. Additionally, in response to an urgent call for research and development on COVID-19, issued by the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, Novartis is contributing by making available several compounds from its libraries that are considered suitable for in vitro antiviral testing.

Currently, the company has initiated a Phase III clinical trial in collaboration with Incyte to evaluate the use of ruxolitinib in combination with standard of care (SoC), compared to SoC alone, as well as a Phase III study of canakinumab, in patients with pneumonia as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infection. In addition, Novartis announced a Phase III trial of hydroxychloroquine, alone and in combination with azithromycin, for the treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 disease.  Under an expedited managed access program, Novartis has granted requests and provided ruxolitinib and canakinumab. Requests for investigator initiated trials have also been granted for COVID-19-related clinical studies of imatinib, secukinumab, hydroxychloroquine and valsartan. Novartis has committed to donate up to 130 million doses of generic hydroxychloroquine to support the global COVID-19 pandemic response.

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