As the saying goes, anything that can go wrong, will. Just ask Novartis. Novartis has encountered virtually every problem that has plagued the industry, such as drug failures in clinical testing and delays in the approval of products.
CNN Money had it right when they said, “Novartis and its investors had grown used to seeing above-average growth in recent years. The Basel-based company appeared to have few major growth drivers in its portfolio that faced patent expiration. It also boasted a rich pipeline of products that promised to replace sales lost on the few products that were coming to the end of market exclusivity.”
But things have happened far from what Novartis planned out. The delays have allowed other competitors to get ahead of Novartis. Their new experimental diabetes medication Galvus is likely to hit the market three years later than planned.
According to CNN Money, “In March, Novartis was forced to suspend sales in the U.S. of another growth driver, the bowel drug Zelnorm. Then it lost a court battle with TEVA Pharmaceuticals (TEVA), which is challenging the patent of heart drug Lotrel, and was given permission to go ahead selling it in the U.S., although patent litigation is still ongoing. Then two companies that are developing drugs jointly with Novartis said that their products, a cancer and a hepatitis C drug, failed in clinical trials.”
To top it all off, last Tuesday Novartis announced that the FDA needs more time to review cancer drug Tasigna which is supposed to take the place of their current number 2 selling cancer drug Gleevec. This is all coupled with their currently dwindling pipelines.
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