Novartis AG
Novartis AG researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, markets, and sells pharmaceutical medicines in Switzerland and internationally. The company offers Entresto, an angiotensin receptorneprilysin inhibitor to treat symptomatic chronic heart failure; Cosentyx to treat plaque psoriasis, pso riatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and nonradiographic axial spondy loarthritis; Kisqali, a selective oral cyclin dependent inhibitor of kinases 4 and 6; Promacta/Revolade for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), thrombocytopenia, and aplastic anemia patients; Tafinlar+Mekinist, an oral combination therapy to treat cancer patients; and Jakavi for treating myelofibrosis, polycythemia vera, and acute or chronic graftversushost disease. It also provides Tasigna to treat philadelphia chromosomepositive chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic and/or accelerated phase; Xolair for treating allergic asthma and nasal polyps or severe chronic rhinosi nusitis with nasal polyps; Ilaris to treat fever syndromes, Stills disease, and acute gouty arthritis; Pluvicto to treat prostatespecific membrane anti genpositive metastatic castrationresistant prostate cancer; Sandostatin SC and Sandostatin LAR to treat acromegaly carcinoid tumors and functional gastro intestinal and pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors; Zolgensma to treat genetic root cause of spinal muscular atrophy; Lucentis; Leqvio to reduce LDL cholesterol; Lutathera; Scemblix; and Fabhalta. The company focuses on therapeutic areas, such as cardiovascular, renal and metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, oncology, and hematology. It has a license and collaboration agreement with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to develop, manufacture, and commercialize Leqvio (inclisiran) to reduce LDL cholesterol. Novartis AG has a strategic alliance with CAS for enhancing reaction data accessibility and supporting AI-enabled research. Novartis AG was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland.
What does it do?
Novartis is a Swiss pharmaceutical giant — one of the biggest drug companies on the planet. They research, develop, and sell medicines for serious conditions like heart failure, cancer, and skin diseases like psoriasis. Think of blockbuster drugs like Entresto (for a weakened heart) and Cosentyx (for inflammatory diseases like severe psoriasis) — these are Novartis products that millions of patients rely on daily. If a doctor prescribes you a medicine for a chronic illness, there's a real chance Novartis made it.
Novartis is one of the few pharmaceutical companies large enough to move markets — with $281 billion in market value, it sits alongside the biggest healthcare names in the world. Right now, investors are watching closely because Novartis is in the middle of a transformation, having spun off its generics division Sandoz in 2023 to focus purely on branded, high-value medicines. That strategic shift, combined with a strong product lineup and a growing pipeline of new drugs, makes this a pivotal moment for the company.
How does it make money?
Novartis makes money almost entirely by selling patented prescription medicines — drugs that only they are legally allowed to make for a set period of time, which lets them charge premium prices. Revenue grew from $51.7 billion to $56.7 billion in the latest year, a jump of roughly 10%, driven by strong sales of Entresto, Cosentyx, and Kisqali (a breast cancer drug). Net income — the actual profit after all costs — came in at $14 billion, meaning roughly 25 cents of every dollar of revenue turned into profit, which is a healthy margin for any business.
Why do investors care?
The investment case for Novartis rests on its ability to keep growing a handful of blockbuster drugs while its pipeline of new medicines delivers the next wave of hits. Kisqali, its breast cancer treatment, is expanding into new patient groups and eating into competitors' market share. The company also has a strong presence in radioligand therapy — a cutting-edge cancer treatment that delivers radiation directly to tumour cells — which could be a major growth engine over the next decade. For this story to work, Novartis needs its key drugs to avoid patent cliffs and its pipeline to produce at least one or two more breakthrough medicines.
Deep Dive
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