Novartis Earnings Rise 49%
GENEVA (
) --
Novartis
(NVS) - Get Report
, the European drugmaker, said first-quarter net income rose 49% to $2.9 billion on the back of strong sales of new products.
Novartis said sales rose 25% to $12.1 billion as its recently launched products contributed 16%, or $1.9 billion, of net sales. Sales from its pandemic flu vaccine were $1.1 billion.
Analysts expected a first-quarter profit of $2.49 billion. In the same quarter last year, Novartis earned $1.98 billion.
"All of our businesses are making good progress, particularly the sustained expansion in pharmaceuticals and the strong contributions from supply contracts for A(H1N1) pandemic flu vaccines," said CEO Joseph Jimenez.
-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.
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