Swiss pharma giant Novartis reports soaring profits off drug sales

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Thursday reported soaring profits and raised its expectations for 2024 operating income, driven by strong sales for a range of its popular drugs.

The firm's net profits jumped 43 percent to $3.2 billion in the second quarter of this year, it said in a statement.

Sales rose by nine percent to $12.5 billion, narrowly beating the forecasts of analysts by Swiss financial news service AWP.

"Our performance reflects continued strong momentum of our key growth drivers" both in and outside the United States, CEO Vas Narasimhan said in the statement.

The results were driven in part by sales of drugs including heart failure treatment Entresto, which rose by nearly 30 percent to $1.9 billion.

Sales of multiple sclerosis drug Kesimpta leapt 65 percent to nearly $800 million, the firm said.

Breast cancer treatment Kisqali meanwhile saw sales jump more than 50 percent to over $715 million.

Novartis, which raised its financial outlook when it announced its first quarter results in April, still expects sales to grow in the high-single to low double-digits.

But the firm raised its expectation for core operating income, predicting it would grow in the mid to high teens, up from "low double-digit to mid-teens" previously.

Last year, Novartis spun off Sandoz, one of the world's biggest makers of generic and biosimilar medicines, and listed it on the Swiss stock exchange.