Novartis profits exceed forecasts

NOVARTIS, Switzerland’s largest drugmaker, reported first-quarter profits above analysts’ forecasts as sales increased for its biggest product, hypertension drug Diovan.

Net income was $1.06 billion, or 43 cents a share, little changed from a year earlier, after a loss on Novartis’s stake in Swiss rival Roche Holding. A 21% increase in sales boosted profit above the $933 million average estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Novartis chief executive officer Daniel Vasella is relying on older products like the seven-year-old Diovan, whose sales rose 58% to $565 million, because the company has no new drugs with similar market potential to introduce this year. Novartis expects sales to grow by 10% in local currencies this year and net income and operating profit to exceed 2002 levels.