Novartis Chief: Good Things Come To Those Who Wait

Novartis AG is headed for an uptick but not for more than a year: that was the message from CEO Joe Jimenez as the company reported its third-quarter results. “The future of this company is not about 2017: it’s about 2018, 2019, 2020,” said Jimenez, responding to questioning by analysts on specific challenges the firm faces, notably the under-performance of its Alcon Inc. eye care division and the ongoing ramp-up in generic competition to its blockbuster drug Gleevec (imatinib), which will face European genericization from December 2016 on top of the existing competition in the US.

Executives acknowledged that the return to growth of Alcon, once promised for this year, will now be slower in coming, and that the impact of Gleevec generics will be heavy next year, partly because this year it has not been as bad as expected