Novartis: Alcon reorg on tap for 2016

(Reuters) — Novartis (NYSE:NVS) has agreed in principle to pay $390 million to settle U.S. allegations that it used kickbacks to speciality pharmacies to push sales of some drugs, the Swiss company said today, hitting 3rd-quarter earnings. The U.S. Justice Dept. had sued Novartis in a Manhattan federal court, saying the world’s biggest seller of prescription drugs sought illegally to boost sales of drugs covered by Medicare and Medicaid. The $390 million settlement, still pending approval, pushed Novartis’s 3rd-quarter net income down 42% to $1.8 billion. Novartis’s underlying results also missed analyst forecasts, as weakness at its eye-care business Alcon and a strong dollar offset the benefits of an enlarged cancer drug portfolio acquired from GlaxoSmithKline. Alcon continued its slump, driven by declining surgical equipment sales and generics competition. “Alcon had another bad quarter,” wrote analysts from Barclays. CEO Joe Jimenez said an Alcon recovery plan would be unveiled in January. Jimenez told reporters Novartis had made the disputed payments to ensure patients took the drugs, including treatments to prevent rejection of transplanted organs, but U.S. government attorneys disagreed. “We’re not admitting liability, it’s something we just believe we want to put behind us,” he said. Novartis shares fell 2% to 88.60 Swiss francs by 08:00 GMT. The lawsuit accused Novartis of paying rebates to induce specialty...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Tags: Legal News MassDevice Earnings Roundup Optical/Ophthalmic Source Type: news