At US$2 billion, the bottom line fell 5% year-on-year in January-March, even as revenues grew 1% to US$12.4 billion, the group said in a statement.

Driven by flagship drugs like heart medication Entresto, sales were up even in a tough comparison with last year’s first quarter, when doctors, hospitals and patients stocked up as the first coronavirus lockdowns came into effect in much of the world.

But falling prices for generics “due to increasing competition” as well as the comparison with the early 2020 stocking-up effect drove currency-adjusted revenues at the Sandoz division down 13%.

This year also brought a “historically weak cough and cold season” undermining first-quarter demand, Novartis said.

Nevertheless, “we expect Sandoz performance to stabilise, in the near term, after a challenging quarter”, Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said in the statement.

He added that he was confident for the group’s outlook as “growth drivers and launches continued their strong momentum”.

Novartis stuck to its forecasts of low- to mid-single-digit growth in currency-adjusted sales.