Swiss drugmaker Novartis posted a weaker first‑quarter, with net sales slipping to $13.1 billion, a 1 percent drop year‑over‑year. Profit fell 12 percent to $4.9 billion, while core earnings per share slid 13 percent to $1.99. The decline stems from patent expiries on several flagship medicines, most prominently the heart‑failure drug Entresto.

Entresto sales plunged 42 percent after U.S. patent protection expired, and the drug faces a similar loss of exclusivity in Europe later this year. Other products suffered steep falls: Promacta, used for blood‑disorder patients, tumbled 66 percent, while the leukemia therapy Tasigna dropped 59 percent, eroding the group’s revenue base.

To offset the “patent cliff,” Novartis accelerated a series of acquisitions last year, highlighted by a $12 bn purchase of rare‑disease biotech Avidity Biosciences, its largest deal in over a decade. Additional commitments included $1.4 bn for cardiovascular start‑up Tourmaline Bio and up‑to‑$3.1 bn for Anthos Therapeutics, expanding its pipeline across heart and kidney indications.

Despite the slowdown, the company stuck to its 2026 outlook, forecasting low‑single‑digit sales growth and a comparable dip in core operating income. The aggressive deal‑making and a new partnership with China’s Argo Biopharma—potentially worth up to $5.2 bn—signal a strategic shift toward biotech assets to sustain earnings.