IMS Company Profiles - Report Buyer

IMS COM PANY PRO FILES NOVARTIS
Novartis is a com pany with lead er ship po si tions in pat ented and ge neric pharmaceuticals, vac cines,
and over-the-coun ter med i cines. In 2007, it was ranked as the world’s num ber three phar ma ceu ti cal
cor po rate group, ac cord ing to IMS. It has four busi ness di vi sions: Pharmaceuticals, Sandoz (Generics),
Con sumer Health and Vac cines & Di ag nos tics. Based in Basel, Swit zer land, Novartis has un der gone con -
sid er able re or ga ni za tion in re cent years. Sev eral ac qui si tions have strength ened Novartis’ pres ence in
vac cines and generics, while the sale of its nu tri tion busi nesses has left the com pany’s fo cus solely on
healthcare prod ucts. Lead ing drugs are the an gio ten sin II in hib i tor Diovan (valsartan), with 2008 sales of
$5.7 bil lion, and the can cer ther apy Glivec (imatinib), with 2008 sales of $3.7 bil lion. The com pany’s
Pharmaceuticals busi ness faced sev eral prob lems in 2007 mainly in the US, in clud ing ge neric com pe ti tion
and reg u la tory de lays for a ma jor pipe line prod uct, Galvus (vildagliptin), but 2008 saw the sec tor bounce
back, led by dy namic growth of the on col ogy busi ness. 2008 saw few prod uct launches, but new prod ucts
launched in 2007 con trib uted sig nif i cantly to growth in 2008. In 2008, Novartis’ vac cines and di ag nos tics
per formed well, while the per for mance of the generics busi ness was more muted due to a lack of
launches in the USA. The com pany faces the pros pect of los ing around 20% of its sales to ge neric com pe -
ti tion by 2012 (in clud ing Diovan). Novartis’ strat egy to sur vive this loss hinges on bol ster ing its ex ten sive
R&D pipe line, in par tic u lar its on col ogy pipe line, and growth in emerg ing mar kets, as well as con tin ued
cost-con tain ment mea sures. In 2008 the com pany re ceived 10 key ap prov als and made 14 key reg u la -
tory sub mis sions (in clud ing ad di tional in di ca tions for mar keted prod ucts) and in 2008 Novartis ac quired
two com pa nies to bol ster its pipe line: Protez Pharmaceuticals (USA), fo cused on anti-infectives, and
Speedel (Swit zer land), a de vel oper of car dio vas cu lar drugs. In July 2008, it took a 25% stake in the US
oph thal mol ogy firm Alcon, which is ma jor ity-owned by Nes tle (Swit zer land), for $10.4 billion. Novartis
also gained the right to acquire the remaining 52% Alcon stake held by Nestle between January 2010 and
July 2011 for up to approximately $28 billion.
Share Data: Shares are quoted on the Swiss stock ex change in Zu rich, and the New York Stock Ex -
change. Shares are also traded on the SEAQ In ter na tional, Lon don.
The com pany has the fol low ing busi ness di vi sions:
Pharmaceuticals
Sandoz
Con sumer Health
Vac cines & Di ag nos tics
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