Novartis earning Q1 2025

Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis on Tuesday reported better-than-expected first-quarter sales and raised its full-year guidance.

Net sales were up 15% on a constant currency basis to $13.2 billion, compared to the $13.12 billion estimated by analysts in an LSEG poll.

Quarterly adjusted core operating income rose 27% to $5.58 billion versus the $5.07 billion expected.

Novartis shares were up around 1.2% by 8:20 a.m. London time.

The company also raised its full-year guidance for 2025, forecasting net sales to grow by high single digits and core operating income to increase by low double-digits. It had previously forecast net sales growth of mid to high-single digits and core operating income growth of high single to low double-digits.

“Even in this I think complex geopolitical environment, we feel confident we can deliver now this upgraded guidance,” CEO Vas Narasimhan told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday.

Sales continued to be driven primarily by the company’s blockbuster heart-failure drug Entresto and arthritis medication Cosentyx. However, Narasimhan highlighted growing demand for its Kisqali breast cancer treatment, Kesimpta multiple schlerosis medication and Leqvio cholesterol drug.

“Our priority brands, including Kisqali, Kesimpta and Leqvio, continue to show strong momentum, which we anticipate will drive our growth through 2030 and beyond,” Narasimhan said in a statement.

The CEO also pointed to new approvals for a series of other drugs, including its Pluvicto prostate cancer treatment.

“We remain focused on advancing our leading pipeline and confident in achieving our growth outlook” Narasimhan added.

The results come as the global pharmaceutical industry waits with bated breath for anticipated U.S. tariffs after the President Donald Trump’s administration launched an investigation into the sector earlier this month.

Pharmaceuticals have hereto been exempt from sweeping import duties, but Trump warned in March that targeted pharma levies would come in the “very near future.”

Narasimhan said Tuesday that his firm was “monitoring the situation carefully” but nevertheless cautioned against sector-specific levies.

“I think there’s good reason why the world has never had pharmaceutical tariffs,” he said. “We certainly don’t want to disrupt the flow of medication to patients globally.”

The prospect of hefty duties has fueled an uptick in U.S. investment by European pharmaceutical firms as they seek to retain access to the lucrative market and streamline domestic production.

Novartis announced earlier this month that it would invest $23 billion to build and expand 10 facilities in the U.S. over the next five years, which it said would ensure all key Novartis medicines for U.S. patients will be made domestically.

Novartis’ Narasimhan, who has long been bullish on his firm’s growth in the U.S. market, said at the time that tariffs were a consideration but not the driving factor in the firm’s decision.

“We’ve made a strategic decision — kind of independent of the near-term, various things going on, whether its tariffs or other policies, more strategically to say we want to have the capacity in the U.S. to produce those technologies, those medicines for the U.S. population,” he reiterated Tuesday.

“That’s a shift in our thinking, and certainly I think it’s one that will serve us well in the long run as we continue to pursue our goal to be one of the top players in the U.S. over time.”

“Overall, while it is an uncertain environment, we think we’ve put ourselves in the right position to manage the tariffs.”

Narasimhan added that the firm had put itself “in the right position to manage the tariffs,” with sufficient U.S. inventory to manage potential near-term disruptions.

Novartis’ move was followed last week by Swiss pharma firm Roche which pledged to invest $50 billion in the U.S. over the next five years and create more than 12,000 jobs.

Meantime, U.S. firms Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly have also recently announced sizable new investments in the U.S.