Novartis Q2 profit up as generic competition mounts

July 21 - Novartis' NOVN.S second-quarter core operating profit beat market expectations on Tuesday, helped by strong sales of cancer and multiple sclerosis drugs.

The Swiss drugmaker saw quarterly group operating income, adjusted for special items, come in at $5.94 billion, above average analyst expectations of about $5.31 billion cited by Visible Alpha.

Novartis, with a market capitalization of $315 billion, is navigating its most severe period of patent expiries, most notably for the company's top-selling heart failure drug Entresto, which made up 14% of total net sales last year.