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In 2018, Novartis reported a net profit of $ 12.6 billion, up 64% from the sale of a joint venture of over-the-counter drugs to GlaxoSmithKline to focus on the new expensive drugs, including gene therapy and nuclear medicine for cancer. .
The annual business turnover grew 5% to $ 51.9 billion.
Asked if Novartis would consider raising prices in the US in the coming months, Narasimhan said, "We are in a situation where we are taking limited price increases for which we believe they are defensible. and appropriate, but most of these increases fall off discounts. "
"And I think what we have to look at now is how do we allow these discounts to reduce the personal costs of patients in the system," he added.
Swiss drug maker Novartis, which has a market capitalization of $ 216 billion, has reshuffled its portfolio in recent months by selling non-core badets such as its generic segment and ceding its future subsidiary, Alcon, a healthcare company. eyepieces.
The pharmaceutical giant also made two major acquisitions related to cancer treatment: a $ 3.9 billion contract for the French radiopharmaceutical specialist Advanced Accelerator Applications in 2017 and its $ 2.1 billion acquisition of the biopharmaceutical Endocyte based in the United States last year.
"We will continue to consider complementary acquisitions in each of these areas over the next few years," Narasimhan said.
-Reuters contributed to this article.
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