Name: Novartis AG
Type: Publicly-traded pharmaceutical company
Headquarters: Basel, Switzerland
Employees: ~78,000 globally
Founded in 1996 via the merger of two big Swiss companies, Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz.
It used to have three major divisions: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz (generics / biosimilars), and Alcon (eye care). Alcon was spun off as a separate company in 2019. More recently, Sandoz was also spun off (completed in October 2023), which means Novartis is more of a “pure‐play” innovative medicines company now.
Focuses primarily on innovative pharmaceuticals: R&D, development, manufacturing, and selling of novel therapies.
Key therapeutic areas:
Cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases
Oncology (cancer)
Immunology, neuroscience Emerging platforms: gene & cell therapies, radioligand therapies, xRNA, etc.
FY 2024:
Net sales: about US$50.3 billion, up ~12% in constant currency vs prior year.
Core operating income: rose strongly (~22% cc) with margins expanding.
Net income and EPS also saw robust growth.
Q1 2025: Continued momentum — sales up ~12-15% depending on region / currency, operating income significantly higher.
Key products with high growth:
Entresto (for heart failure) showed strong growth.
Cosentyx, Kesimpta, Kisqali, Pluvicto, Leqvio are among other high performers.
After spinning off its generics arm (Sandoz), Novartis is concentrating heavily on R&D and innovation — moving “up the value chain” rather than competing on generics.
Focusing on therapeutic areas where there is high unmet need and strong growth potential (e.g. cardiovascular / renal / metabolic, oncology, immunology, neuroscience).
Investing in emerging technologies (gene / cell therapy, radioligands, xRNA) to build long-term capability.
Novartis is pursuing acquisitions to strengthen its pipeline. For example, it recently acquired Tourmaline Bio (≈ US$1.4B) to gain access to a cardiovascular therapy candidate.
It’s increasing investment in manufacturing, R&D, and expanding in priority geographies (US, China, Germany, Japan).
Strengths:
Strong R&D pipeline, with multiple therapies showing promise.
Robust financial performance; good margins and cash flow.
Strategic clarity: focusing on innovation, divesting non-core businesses.
Global presence; ability to launch and scale medicines in major markets.
Challenges:
Competition, especially from generic and biosimilar manufacturers once patents expire.
Regulatory risks, clinical trial failures are inherent in pharma.
Need to maintain high levels of investment in R&D & manufacturing, which is costly.
Pricing and access pressures (from governments, insurers, etc.), especially in lower-income countries.