Drug giant Novartis reports profits rise

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis said on Tuesday its second-quarter net profit rose 12 percent to $2.72 billion (1.9 billion euros), lifted by strong demand for new drugs. "Our recently launched products continue to transform our portfolio, our new products grew 46 percent and represent now 25 percent of our group sales in Q2 (second quarter)," Novartis chief executive officer Joseph Jimenez said. Sales of recently launched products contributed $3.8 billion to overall group sales, which were up 27 percent at $14.9 billion. Currency factors gave an 8.0-percent boost to overall revenues. For the rest of the year, the group said it was maintaining its forecast for sales growth reaching "around the double-digit mark.