Novartis reveals drop in net profit

Swiss drug maker Novartis AG said its fourth-quarter net profit fell 47% to 1.21 billion US dollars.

The Basel-based company said today that its results were affected by the decision to end a clinical study into wider uses of the hypertension drug Tekturna and other charges.

Novartis reported a net profit of 2.32 billion US dollars for the fourth quarter of 2010.

Sales rose 4% to 14.78 billion US dollars in the October-December period last year.