Novartis posts stronger-than-expected second-quarter results as new cancer drugs boost sales

New drugs for the treatment of cancer appear to be reversing a downward trend for the company.

Excluding one-time items, Novartis reported a profit of 5.9 billion US dollars for the second quarter of this year. This compares with an average forecast among analysts of 5.3 billion dollars.

Sales, net of 14.4 billion US dollars, were also better than expected. The average forecast there was 13.9 billion dollars.