Novartis's Entresto Voyage: Hindsight Is 20/20

As a novel treatment for heart failure coming into a marketplace that had seen little innovation in recent years, with a proven effect on morbidity and mortality, Entresto should have been a groundbreaking US launch in 2015 for Novartis AG – a region where nearly 5 million people are currently living with congestive heart failure (CHF) and approximately 550,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. But the drug suffered a slower-than-expected start in its biggest market and missed out on sales targets in 2016 despite Novartis introducing new value-based reimbursement methods to tempt US payers.

In light of these unusual circumstances, Scrip has taken a look back at Entresto's story to piece together why a...