Novartis profits dip as Covid mask-wearing cuts flu cases

Covid precautions have seen few people get the flu this year, cutting demand for some of the Swiss drug giant's staple drugs

Novartis' manufacturing plant in Ringaskiddy: Novartis employs about 1,400 people in Ireland across a manufacturing plant in Cork and a services centre in Dublin

Swiss drug giant Novartis – which employs about 1,400 people in Ireland across a manufacturing plant in Cork and a services centre in Dublin – saw profits slip in its latest quarter as mask-wearing to protect against the spread of Covid-19 cut cases of flu and other diseases, sapping demand for some of its key products.

Novartis said its first-quarter core net income dropped 4% to $3.4bn (€2.8bn). That was worse than analysts expected.

A world where everyone is wearing masks was one factor.

The Covid precautions have seen few people get the flu this year, cutting demand for some of Novartis' staple drugs.

Sales of cancer and eye disease medicine also took a hit as fewer people sought treatment.

Price competition

The firm is also battling ever-tougher price competition for its generic drugs unit, Sandoz.

Its core operating income tumbled by over a third during the quarter.

Novartis has no vaccine business of its own. But, it is helping with bottling, and making doses for other brands.

Chief executive Vas Narasimhan says the firm could step up output if required.

Novartis also said that a large British study of its cholesterol-lowering drug Leqvio is now not expected to be completed until 2026, a year later than expected, as Covid infections made participant recruitment difficult.

Last year, Novartis struck a deal with Britain's National Health Service to use its data to find patients at risk of heart disease for whom conventional treatment had failed.

• additional reporting Reuters