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Novartis profit falls as blockbuster cancer drugs sales recede

Berlin - Novartis said first-quarter earnings fell 12% after the company’s best-selling cancer medicine Gleevec faced generic competition in the US.

Profit declined to $1.17 a share, excluding some items, the Basel, Switzerland-based company said on Thursday in a statement. Analysts estimated $1.15, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Revenue fell 3% to $11.6bn, compared with analysts’ average projection of $11.8bn.

Sales of Gleevec dropped 22% after the drug lost patent protection in the US in February, opening the door to generic versions of the $4.7bn-a-year product. The Alcon eye-care division continued to struggle as the company implements a plan to put the unit’s growth back on track.

Alcon revenue dropped 7% to $1.4bn and profit plunged 36% to $243m in the first quarter.

To offset the sales declines, Novartis has been trying to boost revenue from new medicines like Entresto for heart failure and the Cosentyx skin treatment. Analysts have cut their 2020 sales estimates for Entresto by 35% in the last three months amid weak demand for the drug, which generated $17m in the quarter.

Analysts had estimated $20.2m in sales. Novartis forecast about $200m in Entresto sales for this year.

Cosentyx, which faces competition soon from a new psoriasis medicine sold by Eli Lilly had sales of $176m, beating analyst estimates of $137.1m.

The drug maker is sticking to its forecast that 2016 sales and core operating.

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