By Helena Smolak


Novartis raised its profit guidance a second time this year after second-quarter profit and sales rose and outpaced analysts' expectations, boosted by revenue from its blockbuster treatments.

The Swiss pharma major said Thursday that it now expects its core operating profit--one of its preferred metrics, which strips out exceptional items--for 2024 to grow in the mid to high teens, from a low double-digit to mid-teens range previously.

The group reiterated its full-year sales growth at a high-single to low-double-digit range. The company had already upgraded its 2024 forecasts alongside its first-quarter results.

The guidance assumes that no Entresto heart drug generics and no Promacta aplastic anemia drug generics launch in the U.S. in 2024, it said.

Core operating profit for the second quarter grew to $4.95 billion from $4.24 billion the year prior. The numbers for last year's second quarter provided by Novartis reflect the group's continuing operations taking into account the spinoff of generics business Sandoz Group in October.

Sales increased to $12.51 billion from $11.44 billion the year before.

Strong growth in sales of the company's Entresto drug, scheduled to lose patent protection next year in the U.S., and its Cosentyx psoriasis treatment, which both exceeded $1 billion in quarterly revenue, helped the top line.

Analysts polled by Visible Alpha had forecast $4.67 billion in core operating profit on $12.22 billion in sales.


Write to Helena Smolak at helena.smolak@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-18-24 0142ET