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(Sharecast News) - Shares in Novartis came under pressure on Tuesday, after quarterly numbers from the Swiss pharmaceutical firm disappointed.
Net sales declined by 5%, or 1% on a constant currency basis, in the first three months of the year to $13.1bn, hit by generic competition in the US and narrowly missing forecasts for $13.4bn.
Group operating income, once adjusted for special items, slid 12% to $4.9bn on the back of lower sales and higher research and development costs. Analysts had been looking for closer to $5.1bn.
Core earnings per share fell 13% to $1.99.
Novartis has been hit as its blockbuster medicines come off patent, including best-seller Entresto. Sales of the heart failure treatment plunged 46% over the first quarter, to $1.3bn. Entresto is due to come off patent in Europe later this year.
As at 1045 BST, the Zurich-listed stock was down 3%.
The company said volumes had contributed 13 percentage points to sales growth, but that had been offset by 14ppts of generic competition. Pricing had a further negative impact of 4ppts.
However, Vas Narasimhan, chief executive, said: "Novartis delivered a strong start to 2026 across our priority brands and launches, while US generic erosion weighed on results in the first quarter as expected.
"We continue to advance our pipeline, with compelling phase III results for remibrutinib in chronic inducible urticaria and phase II data in food allergy.
"With the momentum we are seeing across the business, we remain on track to deliver our full-year guidance."
Novartis is currently guiding for net sales to grow by low single digit in the current year, and for core operating income to decline by low single digit.
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