FRANKFURT, Jan 31 Reuters Swiss drugmaker Novartis reported a 6 gain in fourthquarter adjusted net income on Wednesday, helped by cost cuts and strong growth of recently launched drugs.

Core net income for the quarter came in at 3.13 billion, it said in a statement, missing analysts39; estimate of about 3.3 billion, as per LSEG data.

Novartis also extended its midterm guidance, saying it expected sales to grow 5 per year until 2028, when adjusting for currency swings. It had previously projected that pace of growth through 2027.

CEO Vas Narasimhan previously led a push to cut jobs and focus on fewer therapeutic areas and geographic markets, before spinning off and listing generic drugs business Sandoz late last year.

The spinoff means greater reliance on innovation at the core business, putting Narasimhan under more investor pressure, but he scored a major win last year when breast cancer drug Kisqali was shown to help a wider patient group in a study.

Quarterly sales growth was driven by a betterthanexpected performance of established heart failure drug Entresto, Kesimpta for multiple sclerosis, and Kisqali.

However, revenue gains for Pluvicto, a precision radiotherapy against prostate cancer, and gene therapy Zolgensma against spinal muscular atrophy fell short of market expectations.

Reporting by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Rachel More, Kirsti Knolle and Varun H K

Source Reuters