Trending: Novartis Raises Profit Guidance as It Prepares for Patent Expirations

1137 GMT - Novartis is among the most mentioned companies across news items over the past 10 hours, according to Factiva data. The Swiss pharma company raised its profit guidance for a second time this year after profit and sales rose in the second quarter and outperformed market expectations. However, its sales target for the year remained unchanged. Novartis's Chief Financial Officer Harry Kirsch said in a media call that the company is preparing for patent expirations starting from 2025, and remains on track to achieve its mid-term sales growth and margin guidance. In particular, investors are closely watching potential generics competition to the revenue-driving heart drug Entresto--scheduled to lose patent protection next year in the U.S.--as this year's profit guidance upgrade assumes no Entresto generics coming from the U.S. Dow Jones & Co. owns Factiva. (helena.smolak@wsj.com)

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 18, 2024 07:53 ET (11:53 GMT)

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