Novartis AG (NYSE:NVS) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Vas Narasimhan: Yes, thanks, Graham. On Sandostatin, there is no litigation ongoing, I think. And I can’t comment on other companies manufacturing capabilities. I think what we did observe in Europe with the launch of generics is, there was limited supply available for those launches given the complexity of the manufacturing. And we believe that that’s a complexity as well. That would still be the case in the US. This is a very difficult medicine to consistently make and characterize and release. But obviously that’s for the approved generic to ultimately determine. So we’ll be monitoring to see how and when that product comes to market and in what volumes. And in the meantime as well, I mean, we very much are focused on our Lutathera frontline data where we, I think, presented really compelling data to make Lutathera the medicine — frontline medicine of choice.

It’s already on label. We’re already promoting that to physicians, making sure physicians understand the data set that we’ve now generated with the net or two. In fact, it was an opportunity as well to maintain our neuroendocrine tumor business. With respect to Promacta. Not much more I can add. We, of course, continue to defend our IP and we’ll do so and try to maintain the medicine’s protection for as long as possible. But at this point in time, I can’t provide any further details or guidance on Promacta. For forecasting purposes, we’re saying a generic entry in 2024. But as always, we defend our IP to the fullest extent possible. Moving to the last question, operator.

Operator: Thank you. Your last question for today comes from the line of Tim Anderson, Wolfe Research. Please go ahead.

Tim Anderson: Thank you so much. Obesity, I think you’ve been asked this before, but quite possibly the biggest therapeutic category, you guys have a big presence in cardiometabolic. How high of a priority is it to enter this space? There are acquirable assets in clinical development. They fall into that sub $5 billion range. Why not move on one of them? Can’t late entrant products still capture revenues? Or [indiscernible] just too far ahead to justify the cost of a competitive development program?

Vas Narasimhan: Yes, thanks, Tim. So look, when we think about the obesity market, we very much look at it in the lens of our presence in cardiovascular disease and wanting to ensure we have a presence that enables future cardiovascular drugs we have in our pipeline to either be combinable or available to patients with the full range of cardiovascular disease. So certainly something we’re evaluating and looking at. Our current view is that, given the number of companies already pursuing injectable and oral GLP, GIP top assets, that we should be focused on differentiated assets that have novel targets or novel approaches, novel profiles, which is what we look at in research. But of course, we evaluate all the opportunities that are currently out there given the size of this market and the importance for cardiovascular health.

So obviously, if we find something of interest, we’ll pursue it. But at the moment, I can’t really say anything specific about anything we’re looking at. Perfect. Thanks, everyone, for joining. We look forward to keeping you updated over the course of the year and wish everyone a great 2024.

Operator: Thank you. This concludes today’s conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect. Thank you.

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