Novartis shares had their worst day ever a day earlier, after three separate drug-trial disappointments landed on investors at once.
Most chief executives would lead with damage control. Vas Narasimhan led with a win: a multiple sclerosis drug, remibrutinib, that he said was one of the company's biggest successes of the year, and reason enough to hold the growth guidance unchanged.
"I think what that shows is we have the pipeline and the replacement power to continue to grow. Even when we have these setbacks. And the setbacks are part of drug development."
Narasimhan, a physician by training, has run Novartis since 2018 and sits on the board of Anthropic, which he joined in April 2026.
I listened to the full interview so you can skip it.
Here are the 5 takeaways that matter.
👤 Guest: Vas Narasimhan, Chief Executive Officer of Novartis since 2018 and a physician-scientist by training, who joined Anthropic's board of directors in April 2026
🎙️ Host: Sara Eisen, CNBC Anchor
📰 Published: 9 September 2026 on CNBC
🔴 CNBC | ⏱️ 9 min
Key Takeaways
Novartis is holding its 5-6% growth guidance through 2030 despite three drug-trial setbacks in one day
He credits a new multiple sclerosis drug win for the confidence
Two of the three setback programs are already being worked back onto track, including a cell therapy for autoimmune disease
About 60% of phase 3 trials succeed across the industry, and Novartis has had only one major setback since 2022 before this one
The deal still "make great financial sense" if Novartis gets just one of the two larger assets over the finish line, even with the third one failed
He joined Anthropic's board because he believes it has "the right mindset" on AI safety, and hopes AI eventually gets the kind of thoughtful regulation pharma has
1. One Win, Three Setbacks
Sara Eisen opened by asking what Narasimhan's message to investors was, a day after three separate pieces of bad trial news sent Novartis to its worst day ever.
He led with a win, not the losses. "I think it's important to frame that we actually had one of our biggest wins of the year with remibrutinib and multiple sclerosis to start that. And actually, that was the one that we really think will help to drive us in the long run"
That win is why the guidance didn't move. "That's why we were able to maintain our five year guidance of 5 to 6% growth through 2030, and also maintained our growth guidance in the mid-single digit" for the following decade
He framed the setbacks as evidence the pipeline works, not evidence it doesn't. "I think what that shows is we have the pipeline and the replacement power to continue to grow. Even when we have these setbacks. And the setbacks are part of drug development."
Two of the three setback programs are already being pushed back toward viability, including a cell therapy for autoimmune disease that he said the company is hopeful to get "back on track"
2. The $12 Billion Avidity Bet
The most surprising of the three setbacks was a failed late-stage trial in a muscle-wasting disorder, tied to Novartis's roughly $12 billion acquisition of Avidity Biosciences earlier this year — which raised, in Eisen's words, questions about whether the deal was too risky.
He called the underlying science genuinely new. "This is technology that allows us to take RNA based therapies and actually get them to the muscles of these patients, the nervous systems of these patients to actually transform disease"
The deal carried three assets, and two remain on track. Novartis has a priority FDA review for the first, treating a form of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, and is advancing toward a possible accelerated approval discussion with the FDA for a second, treating FSHD — facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy
The deal's financial logic doesn't depend on all three working. "I think we want to get one of the two big ones through FSHD and del" — the shorthand he used on air for the third, now-failed asset — "and this one's not done yet. I mean, our scientists are going to work very hard"
He pushed back on the idea the failed program was central to the deal's rationale. "I would think what's getting lost a little bit in the narrative is we've had two other successes coming out of this deal, and we would have expected that as long as one of the two biggest parts of the deal, FSHD or del, and work out actually the deal make great financial sense for Novartis"
3. A 60% Industry Win Rate
Eisen noted investors understand trial failure is normal — roughly half of phase 3 trials don't reach market, by her figure — but asked whether three failures in a row meant Novartis and its peers are overpaying for late-stage biotech assets.
He gave his own industry-wide baseline. "On average, about 60% phase three trials win across the sector"
Novartis's own record before this cluster of setbacks was unusually clean. "Since 2022, we've only had one major setback. And that's why if you were to zoom out on our overall TSR and share price performance over five years, it's been at the top of the sector"
He defended the pricing discipline behind the Avidity deal. "We do it all based on the science and based on valuation. And we think that we're paying reasonable premiums"
He corrected the framing of the third failure. "The third one that we're referring to is actually phase two trial, not a phase three trial" — Eisen's five-out-of-ten failure rate, and his own 60% win rate, both describe phase 3 outcomes, which this program never reached
Asked whether the run of setbacks changes Novartis's M&A process, diligence or R&D approach, he said no: "We have to be willing to take thoughtful risks to be able to keep growing the company and find the breakthroughs that will really make a difference"
4. Betting on Remibrutinib
Eisen pressed on whether the new MS drug data is really enough to justify holding growth guidance through 2030 given Novartis's patent cliff.
The guidance predates the newest data, which he said only strengthens it. "We said 5 to 6% and now we have, and that was before we got the remibrutinib data"
Kesimpta, Novartis's existing MS drug, is already guided to more than $6 billion in sales, and he said remibrutinib could eventually become Novartis's largest drug ever, on top of an oral therapy he called highly safe and highly effective
Remibrutinib is already approved in one dermatology indication, with a second expected, in addition to the multiple sclerosis approval he is pursuing
He pointed to six more major readouts still coming over the next several quarters as the basis for both the five-year and the into-the-2030s guidance. "I'm fully confident of that"
5. Joining Anthropic's Board
Eisen closed by asking Narasimhan, as an Anthropic board member, how he was reacting to news that day about an AI researcher who had left the industry over fears that Anthropic and its rivals are racing toward systems that may not be controllable or safe.
His reason for joining the board was Anthropic's safety posture. "I really believe that Anthropic has the right mindset with respect to AI safety. It has a deep commitment. In fact, its core mission is to ensure this transition into an AI powered future is done safely. It's pro-regulation"
He described board-level guardrails on model releases. "We have strong guardrails at the board level to make sure we're doing the right things to ensure any models that are released are released in a in a responsible way"
He said he did not know the specifics of that day's story, but expressed confidence in the company's process: "What I can say is it's being done in a very rigorous way, very thoughtful way. And I feel confident that Anthropic is taking all of the right steps"
He drew a direct parallel to his own industry's regulation. "I hope over time, we'll also get to a place where we have appropriate regulation for AI. I think that's one of the best ways we've seen it in the pharmaceutical industry... If we can get to thoughtful regulation, that will actually help us manage this transition in a safe way"
Bonus Insights
Eisen noted the failed program was tied to a $12 billion deal, which raised the question of whether it was overpriced; Narasimhan's answer leaned entirely on the other two assets in the deal rather than defending the price of the one that failed
He described the third failed asset as targeting "a terminal disease that has never been able to be treated before with novel endpoints and novel science" — the same novelty he offered as the reason setbacks happen
Eisen closed the segment by saying there was more to explore but that she only wanted his initial reaction — a sign the show treated the trial news as a quick response, not a deep dive
Narasimhan's bottom line is that Novartis's growth guidance survives an unusually bad news day because it was never built on the one program that failed — and that he is applying the same logic of taking thoughtful risk, in the hope of thoughtful regulation, to his seat on Anthropic's board.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Novartis (Narasimhan's company: three trial setbacks in one day against a maintained 5-6% growth guidance through 2030, built on remibrutinib, Kesimpta and six more pipeline readouts)
Avidity Biosciences (The roughly $12 billion acquisition behind the failed muscle-wasting-disorder trial; two of its three assets remain on track for FDA review)
Kesimpta (Novartis's existing multiple sclerosis drug, guided to more than $6 billion in sales, which he says remibrutinib could eventually surpass)
Remibrutinib (The oral multiple sclerosis drug he called one of the company's biggest wins of the year and the basis for holding growth guidance)
Anthropic (The AI lab whose board Narasimhan joined in April 2026, citing its safety mindset and pro-regulation stance)
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