Novartis reported first-quarter profit unexpectedly rose 11 percent on higher sales of its Diovan heart drug Diovan and Gleevec the cancer med.

Net income increased $2.2 billion, or 92 cents, from a restated $1.95 billion, or 83 cents, The median estimate of 10 analysts suggested earnings would be $1.82 billion. Sales rose 19 percent.

The drugmaker bolstered its sales force to introduce Tekturna, the first new blood pressure drug in more than a decade, but at the same time, as one of the company’s most promising products, the Galvus diabetes pill, was delayed due to safety concerns.

Novartis confirmed the reduced full-year sales forecast it announced last month, saying sales will grow at least 5 percent, after the FDA pushed the company to withdraw Zelnorm, a drug for irritable bowel syndrome and constipation. A review of 18,000 patients indicated people taking the drug had more heart attacks and strokes, the company said. The withdrawal will slice more than 600 million dollars off net sales for the rest of the year, the company said.

“`I am confident of another year of record sales and earnings in 2007,” Novartis ceo Dan Vasella says in a statement today.

Source: Bloomberg News.
Further reading…
Novartis quarterly report;
Novartis press release.[tags]Novartis[/tags]