Novartis Aims to Make Healthcare Affordable in Sub-Saharan African Region

Novartis (NVS) has launched a new innovation hub, Novartis Biome sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), to improve healthcare in the region by developing innovative business models and technology-driven solutions.

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The company said that it would focus on cross-sectoral partnerships to speed-up innovative approaches and make high-quality medicines affordable and bolster health systems. (See Novartis stock chart on TipRanks)

Novartis has set four main priorities to start work – making healthcare affordable, strengthening early diagnosis, leading supply chain innovation, and supporting HCP education and patient awareness. Having worked on these, the company expects to double its patient reach in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2022 and increase it five-fold by 2025.

The President and Head at Novartis Sub-Saharan Africa unit, Racey Muchilwa, said, “While healthcare innovation is at the core of our work at Novartis, we know that no single company can solve these challenges alone. Building strong partnerships and fostering greater collaboration is the only way to truly drive transformative, meaningful access improvements in our region.”

Wall Street’s Take

Earlier this month, UBS analyst Laura Sutcliffe downgraded Novartis’ rating to Hold from Buy but did not assign a price target. (See Insiders’ Hot Stocks on TipRanks)

Overall, the consensus among analysts is a Hold based on 1 Buy, 1 Hold and 1 Sell. The average Novartis price target stands at $85.08 and implies upside potential of 3.9% to current levels.

Hedge Fund Activity

TipRanks’ Hedge Fund Trading Activity tool shows that confidence in Novartis is currently Very Positive, as the cumulative change in holdings across all 12 hedge funds that were active in the last quarter was an increase of 4.9 million shares.