Novartis AG is a Basel, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company formed in 1996 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. It reported FY2025 net sales of $54.5 billion and total revenues of $56.7 billion, with 75,267 full-time equivalent employees at the end of 2025.
From conglomerate to pure-play
Novartis once sold generics, eye care, consumer health and vaccines. Under CEO Vas Narasimhan, who took over in February 2018, it spun off Alcon in 2019, sold its Roche stake in 2021 and spun off Sandoz in October 2023. It now sells only innovative medicines.
How Novartis makes money
Revenue comes from patented drugs in cardiovascular-renal-metabolic (Entresto, Leqvio), immunology (Cosentyx), neuroscience (Kesimpta, Zolgensma) and oncology (Kisqali, Pluvicto, Scemblix). Royalties and milestones added about $2.1 billion of other revenues in 2025.
2026: the Entresto cliff
US generic Entresto and Promacta pushed Q1 2026 net sales down 5% at constant currencies to $13.1 billion. Q2 recovered to $14.4 billion, up 1% cc, with a 41.2% core margin, and Novartis guides for low single-digit sales growth for the year.
Pipeline bets
Novartis closed its roughly $12 billion purchase of Avidity Biosciences on February 27, 2026. In September 2026 the lead Avidity asset, del-desiran, missed its Phase 3 HARBOR endpoint in myotonic dystrophy type 1, and the pelacarsen outcomes trial also failed, while remibrutinib succeeded in relapsing multiple sclerosis.
