Novartis 1Q Net Income Down 17%, Hurt by Drug Failure

Novartis AG said profit fell in the first quarter as the company took a charge for the failure of an acute heart failure drug in late-stage development.

Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis said net income declined 17% to $1.7 billion in the three months to March 31, while revenue slipped 1% to $11.5 billion, compared with the same period a year earlier. Stripping out the effect of the strong dollar, net income fell 15% and revenue increased 2%.

The Swiss drug giant in March said its experimental acute heart-failure drug serelaxin was no better than standard therapy in treating acute heart failure. It took a charge of $200 million in the quarter as a result of discontinuing the research program.

-- Write to Denise Roland at denise.roland@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2017 01:39 ET (05:39 GMT)