But only when it comes to Roche. Novartis, you may recall, has a 33 percent stake in its Swiss rival and Dan Vasella is always being asked when will he move to acquire more. In an intervie with Germany’s Handelsblatt, however, he says there are no plans to takeover Roche.

In fact, Dan says he does not plan any more big acquisitions after digesting a big stake in Alcon, the eye-care company. That “settled the question of further big acquitions,” he told the paper, according to Reuters. “That is not up for debate at the moment and so it is a purely hypothetical question.”

But what about the idea of selling the Roche stake to pay for the Alcon deal? “We are very consistent, almost boring as far as our involvement in Roche is concerned.”