Profits slip at Novartis

Weak performance by Alcon contributed to a drop in second-quarter net sales to $12.5 billion compared with $12.7 billion in the same quarter of 2015.

Alcon’s net sales were reported at $1.5 billion in the second quarter, down 1% at constant currencies. Alcon’s surgical sales declined 1%, with a strong performance in cataract consumables offset by weaker sales of IOLs. Vision care sales were flat.

Sales at its generics units Sandoz were up 3% at constant currencies to $2.6 billion as strong volume growth more than offset lower prices.

However, buried in its earnings announcement was a brief sentence that it received a complete response letter from the FDA rejecting its bid for a biosimilar version of Neulasta, a neutropenia drug that generated $4.7 billion last year for Amgen.