Novartis lifts profit forecast for second quarter in a row

By Caroline Copley ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis raised its full-year sales and profit forecasts for a second quarter in a row on Tuesday, as it benefited from delays to a cheap, copycat competitor to one of its best-selling drugs, blood pressure pill Diovan. Novartis lost its patent rights on Diovan in the United States last year and already faces some generic competition. But it has been granted a partial reprieve as U.S. regulators have not yet approved a generic version of one of the main forms the treatment from India's Ranbaxy Laboratories. ...



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