Swiss drugmaker Novartis reported rising first-quarter sales and profit that beat analyst expectations and confirmed its 2020 targets as the coronavirus pandemic prompted patients to stock up on their prescriptions in advance. “COVID-19 did result in increased forward purchasing by customers, including at the patient level, as some patients filled prescriptions to cover a longer period of time,” Novartis said on Tuesday. The Basel-based company at this time still expects revenue to grow at a mid- to high-single-digit percentage rate, with core operating profit growth even faster at a high-single to low-double-digit rate. …read more
Source:: Yahoo Finance
