Novartis maintains optimism even with dollar more expensive

Increase sales, keeping the current staff, is part of Novartis pharmaceutical strategic to offset sharply higher costs in 2015, as a result of exchange rate devaluation. With public procurement, the company found in the generic engine for double-digit growth in a year of recession.
"The pharmaceutical market is still showing growth [in 2015] compared to last year, but the perceived impact is that the advance this year, compared to the history of recent years, occurs at a lower rate," reports the President of Novartis, José Antônio Vieira, in an exclusive interview to the value-the first since assuming office in April this year, from AbbVie.
The company projects a growth in Switzerland between 9% and 11% for 2015, just above the industry forecast, from a high of less than 10% in the year, according to the Association of research-based pharmaceutical industry (Interfarma) in August. "It's below average compared to recent years, but it's still a very positive growth, when compared to other markets and companies," he says.
According to the Executive, the sale in pharmacies-which represents little more than 65% of the national market-offers good performance, with the generic Division. According to the Brazilian Association of generic drug Industries (PróGenéricos), the Sandoz generics Division of Novartis, surged to 29.1% in sales in the first half, to 39.9 thousand units, more than double the sector advance of 12.3%.
"Institutional sales, on the other hand, have a profile of growth well below that of other areas. At a time when there is a reduction in government spending, is to be expected that there will be an impact on sales, "said Vieira.
Another factor hurting the performance of the pharmaceutical industry in the year is the high-dollar 49% so far. "A substantial part of our cost is imported of high complexity. So the high-dollar impacts and how we act in a segment where the price is absolutely under control, it is necessary to absorb that cost increase, "explains the Executive.
Thus, the productivity gain is the possible alternative, although not enough to compensate for the high cost effect on the results. "We need to control the advance of expenses and get the strength [of work] existing delivered increased sales, holding the cost structure without expansion," he says.
Having started his career in the pharmaceutical industry in Ciba Geigy, which would merge in 1996 to Sandoz, creating the Novartis, Vieira returned to the company a year after the announcement of a global restructuring of the company. In April 2014, Novartis sold its animal health Division to Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline vaccine for business, buying the GSK Oncology area.
With the sale of the business of vaccines, a factory under construction in Jaboatão dos Guararapes (PE) with an uncertain fate. "We are committed to finding a buyer for this factory, you can get a productive destination for this investment", says Vieira. Initially budgeted at r $ 1 billion, the project counted with funding of $ 800 million by the BNDES.