The Basel-based group said all options are on the table, including retaining the business and separation. The timetable for the action appears to be fluid, with an update promised by the end of 2022. As recently as 2018, Novartis said it was looking to give the generics subsidiary more autonomy – a message market watchers saw as a prelude to a sale.

As a generics player, Sandoz has seen considerable price pressure in recent years, especially in the US. In the first three quarters of 2021, its US sales declined 17%, compared with a 2% drop worldwide. The subsidiary’s Q3 quarterly global operating income declined by 15% in the same period.

Analysts noted that Novartis is focusing on biosimilars and complex generics for Sandoz’s forward development. Along with in-licensing a generic version of Roche’s anti-VEGF drug Avastin from China’s Bio-Thera Solutions, the company is also in late-stage development of a biosimilar to Bayer/ Regeneron’s VEGF inhibitor Eylea.

Sandoz plans to launch six biosimilar products across the US and EU in the next few years, CEO Richard Saynor said in a conference call with investors. The company is working on around 15 biosimilar programs internally or through partnerships, he added.

Novartis and BioNTech Renew Toll Pact

Separately, Novartis and BioNTech have renewed their toll manufacturing agreement for the mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine BioNTech markets together with Pfizer as Comirnaty. The updated agreement calls for Novartis to produce at least 24 million doses of the vaccine in 2022 at its facilities in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The Swiss drugmaker will draw bulk mRNA from BioNTech to fill into vials under sterile conditions, then return the finished doses for distribution. Under the existing pact, the Swiss pharma was contracted to fill and finish more than 50 million doses this year. Among other sites, BioNTech produces Comirnaty in a German plant acquired from Novartis.

Author: Dede Williams, Freelance Journalist