Novartis’s Q3 2016 net income $10,9B shorter than last year

Novartis has reported net income of $5.8 billion compared to $16.7 billion in the prior-year period.

Basic earnings per share decreased to $2.42 from $6.94.

The prior-year period benefitted from the net income from discontinued operations, which included $12.8 billion of exceptional pre-tax divestment gains from the portfolio transformation transactions and $0.5 billion of additional pre-tax transaction related expenses, said Novartis in its press release issued Tuesday.

Commenting on the results, Joseph Jimenez, CEO of Novartis, said:

“Novartis delivered a solid Q3 despite the Gleevec generic impact in the US, due to the strong performance of our Growth Products. We continued to drive innovation, with positive pipeline readouts for LEE011 in advanced breast cancer, BAF312 in SPMS and AMG 334 in episodic migraine. We are continuing to invest for the future, as we manage the Gleevec loss of exclusivity in 2016 and 2017.”