Max Nisen, Columnist

Novartis Climbs Out of Its Growth Pit

Its new CEO has challenges, but is starting from a good place.

January 24, 2018 at 4:55 PM UTC

Max Nisen is a healthcare analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He previously wrote for Bloomberg Opinion, Quartz and Business Insider.

Swiss pharmaceutical and drug maker Novartis CEO Vasant Narasimhan addresses the annual results 2017 press conference in Basel on January 24, 2018.

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Incoming Novartis AG CEO Vas Narasimhan is taking over at the right time.

As it reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, the company predicted it will grow sales in 2018 after a multi-year slump. Departing CEO Joe Jimenez is leaving many difficult decisions for Narasimhan as he cedes control next week. But he is also leaving a company with an unusually rich set of assets and a pretty high margin for error.