Novartis to double China business by 2025 from buzai232's blog
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Novartis AG, the fourth-largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue, said it expects to double its China business by 2025, making the region its second-largest in the world.To get more novartis updates, you can visit shine news official website.
Speaking to reporters after the Basel, Switzerland-based group reported its full-year and fourth-quarter results Jan. 26, CEO Vas Narasimhan said investments in digital tools to reach doctors and patients, as well as a collaboration with Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., has helped facilitate seamless access to medicines for patients in China. Together with a greater reach into rural areas, momentum to propel sales to double 2019 levels will be aided by pipeline approvals and securing timely drug registrations in the country, Narasimhan said. "In 2020, we were amongst the fastest-growing multinationals in China. We have high teens growth in our innovative medicines business in China, we led the industry in new National [Reimbursement Drug List] listings," the CEO told reporters. "We also have now a pipeline of medicines we expect to come forward in 2021 and in the coming years. So overall, China remains a top priority for us."
China updated its National Reimbursement Drug List in December 2020 to include 119 new medicines. Although pharmaceutical companies agreed to an average price cut of just over 50%, inclusion on the program is beneficial due to volume growth and a shorter time between launch and reimbursement of new innovative medicines. GlobalData forecasts the Chinese pharmaceutical market will grow to more than $262 billion in 2025 from about $166.7 billion in 2020.
The CEO was speaking after the Swiss pharma giant reported fourth-quarter sales of $12.77 billion, slightly above Jefferies' $12.66 billion forecast, with consensus at $12.79 billion. Novartis issued guidance for 2021 of low to mid-single-digit sales growth, which is at the lower end of Cowen's Steve Scala's expectations. The company's guidance also assumes that no U.S. generic versions of multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya or tumor treatment Sandostatin are introduced.
Our pharmaceuticals business grew 5% even in the context of a global pandemic. And that was, I think, in large part [due] to our digital investments and our ability to reach customers," Narasimhan said. In R&D, Novartis — which has 160 projects in clinical development across 52 indications — received 26 approvals for new treatments in 2020, as well as additional indications for existing treatments in the U.S., Japan and China.
Fourth-quarter sales of psoriasis medicine Cosentyx were up 15% at $1.11 billion, while Entresto gained 38% to $716 million. Zolgensma, the most expensive single-use therapy in the world, jumped by 37% to $254 million, nearly reaching blockbuster status after attaining full-year sales of $920 million.
Elsewhere, Novartis is scaling up its ribonucleic acid, or RNA, manufacturing capacity and intends to become one of the largest manufacturers of RNA in the world, the CEO said, but has no plans to deploy this in oncology.
"As all of you know the past year has really shaken the foundations of society and healthcare systems and the global population," Narasimhan said. "I am proud of the way Novartis has navigated the crisis. … Thanks to the agility and resilience of the company, we've been able to bring over 70 billion doses of medicine to over 750 million patients around the globe."
The Wall