Novartis Earnings Fall on Slide in Cancer-Drug Sales

By Denise Roland

Novartis AG said earnings fell in the first quarter of the year, on a slide in sales of the company's blockbuster cancer drug Gleevec and investment in new drug launches.

Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis said net income for the three months ended March 31 was $2 billion, a fraction of the $13 billion reported a year earlier, when a $12.8 billion gain on the sale of businesses to GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Eli Lilly and Co gave earnings a boost.

Revenue slipped 3% to $11.6 billion, from $11.9 billion a year ago, missing analyst expectations of $11.89 billion.

Core net income, which strips out one-time impairments or gains, fell 13% to $2.8 billion. That beat the $2.68 billion expected by analysts.

Write to Denise Roland at Denise.Roland@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 21, 2016 01:48 ET (05:48 GMT)

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