Tue, May 7th 2024
Sandoz, a Novartis spin-off, kicks off the year with a 5% revenue increase, driven by significant growth in its biosimilars division.
The former generics subsidiary of the pharmaceutical group Novartis has grown faster with its lucrative biosimilars than with “normal” generics.
Revenue between January and March climbed by 5% to 2.5 billion US dollars, as the Group announced on Tuesday. At constant exchange rates, the increase would have been 6%.
The generics business contributed 1.9 billion dollars to total sales and thus remained stable compared to the same period of the previous year.
Sandoz attributes this to factors including an exceptional cough and cold season in the first half of 2023 and the timing of new product launches in the US, which would have offset the solid volume growth.
In contrast, the smaller biosimilar division grew by 21% to 0.6 billion. This significantly stronger growth was due, among other things, to the ongoing market launch of the highly concentrated formulation of the biosimilar Hyrimoz (anti-inflammatory) and the acquisition of Cimerli.
The Basel-based company confirmed its previous target for the further course of business: net sales are expected to grow in the mid-single-digit range. The core EBITDA margin is expected to be around 20% in 2024. The future dividend payout is expected to be between 30 and 40 percent.
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