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* Q3 sales $14.7 bln vs $14.54 bln f'cast
* Core EPS $1.37 vs $1.31 poll f'cast
* Growth products rise 21 pct
* Says portfolio revamp on track
* Shares up 2.2 percent (Adds details, CEO quote, shares)
By Caroline Copley
ZURICH, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG reported better-than-expected results on Tuesday, asstrong sales of new products and its leukaemia drug Glivechelped offset full copycat competition to its formerbest-selling blood pressure pill Diovan.
The Basel-based firm, in the middle of a radical portfoliorevamp, is counting on products launched in the past five yearsto help support sales as it battles a series of patent losses ontop-selling drugs.
Sales of these so-called growth products, such as multiplesclerosis pill Gilenya and cancer drugs Tasigna and Afinitor,grew 21 percent in the third quarter, a slight acceleration onthe 18 percent growth seen in the previous quarter.
Group sales rose 4 percent year-on-year to $14.7 billion,while core earnings per share (EPS) - the measure most followedby investors - jumped 10 percent to $1.37. Analysts in a Reuterspoll had forecast sales of $14.54 billion and core EPS of $1.31.
"I think we're building good momentum to become a morefocused and more profitable company," Chief Executive JoeJimenez told reporters on a call.
Shares in Novartis were trading up 2.2 percent at 87.60Swiss francs by 0818 GMT, having risen as high as 87.80 francs,their highest since Oct. 7.
The stock is up more than 20 percent so far this year,outperforming a 15 percent rise in the European healthcaresector.
Despite the impact of generic competition, expected to lop$2.7 billion off its top line this year, the company hasreported impressive data for a new heart drug known as LCZ696.Analysts have forecast multi-billion dollar sales for theproduct.
Jimenez said Novartis was on track to file LCZ696 forapproval by December this year and expects a decision by U.S.health regulators towards the end of 2015.
OVERHAUL ON TRACK
Novartis in April unveiled plans to exit smaller operationssuch as vaccines, over-the-counter drugs and animal health,while adding higher-margin cancer drugs from GlaxoSmithKline Plc.
It concluded the last bit of unfinished business related tothe overhaul on Sunday, agreeing to sell its global influenzavaccine business to Australia's CSL Ltd for $275million. From now on, it plans to focus on three core areas:pharmaceuticals, eye care and generics.
In the third quarter, sales of those core businesses rose 2percent, with revenue from pharmaceuticals flat, while its eyecare unit Alcon and generics business Sandoz grew 5 and 6percent respectively.
Its pharmaceuticals division took a hit from copycatcompetition to its blood pressure pill Diovan, after India'sRanbaxy Laboratories Ltd launched a generic version onJuly 7. Sales of Glivec beat expectations, rising 7 percent to$1.2 billion.
Jimenez said the company was on track to close the sale ofits animal health unit to Eli Lilly and Co in the firstquarter of 2015, while the GSK deal should complete in the firsthalf of next year.
Sales of these discontinuing operations rose 15 percent, asits vaccines unit benefited from earlier shipments of fluvaccines, while over-the-counter drugs relaunched products inthe United States that had been off the market.
Third-quarter net profit jumped 45 percent to $3.24 billion,well ahead of forecasts and boosted by an $800 million pretaxgain from the sale of its shareholding in IdenixPharmaceuticals, which was bought by U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co in June.
Novartis kept its financial outlook for the full yearunchanged, predicting low-to-mid-single digit sales growth inconstant exchange rate terms. It also forecasts core operatingincome to grow at a mid-to-high-single digit rate. (Editing by Ryan Woo and David Holmes)
