Novartis lifts guidance after first-quarter results beat expectations

Swiss drugmaker Novartis on Tuesday raised its full-year guidance after reporting better-than-expected first-quarter results.

In a statement, it said 2024 net sales would likely grow by a high-single to low double-digit percentage with adjusted operating income expected to grow by a low double-digit to mid-teens percentage.

It has previously predicted that adjusted operating income would increase by a "high single-digit" percentage with "mid single-digit" sales growth.

Novartis said key growth drivers in the quarter included heart failure drug Entresto, which will lose patent protection next year, psoriasis drug Cosentyx and multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta.

Quarterly adjusted operating income gained 16% to $4.54 billion, beating an average analyst estimate of about $4.3 billion. Revenues climbed 10% to a better-than-expected $11.83 billion.

The company added that former Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio would be proposed as Chair of the Board of Directors at the 2025 annual shareholders meeting as incumbent Joerg Reinhardt will not run again after 12 years in office.

CEO Vas Narasimhan previously led a push to cut jobs and costs, part of a focus on fewer therapeutic areas and geographic markets. He also had generic drugs business Sandoz spun off and listed late last year.

But his focus has recently shifted again to drug development. He has also been active on the deals front, agreeing to pay up to $1.01 billion, depending on achievements, for an experimental prostate cancer drug by Arvinas, betting on a technology that lets disease-causing proteins disintegrate.

In February, Novartis signed a deal to acquire MorphoSys, a developer of cancer treatments, for 2.7 billion euros ($2.9 billion), adding a promising rare