By Ludwig Burger
FRANKFURT (Reuters) -Swiss drugmaker Novartis raised its 2024 earnings guidance for the second time on Thursday, driven by a gain in prescriptions of drugs including heart failure treatment Entresto and Kesimpta for multiple sclerosis.
It said in a statement that full-year adjusted operating income is expected to grow by a “mid- to high teens” percentage, where it had previously seen a “low double-digit to mid-teens” percentage.
Second-quarter adjusted operating income gained 17% to $4.95 billion, beating an average analyst estimate of just over $4.6 billion.
Sales of the Entresto and Kesimpta, as well as psoriasis and arthritis drug Cosentyx, came in ahead of the market consensus.
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger, editing by Miranda Murray)
