July 19 (Reuters) - Novartis is happy with theperformance of its consumer health joint venture withGlaxoSmithKline, in which the Swiss drugmaker has aminority stake, and is in no rush to exit the collaborationearly, its chief executive said.
There has been speculation that Novartis might look to tryand sell its 36.5 percent holding before an agreed trigger dateof 2018, but Joe Jimenez played down the idea in a post-resultscall with analysts on Tuesday.
He noted the consumer business was doing well, with profitmargins now improving, suggesting a bright outlook for thebusiness.
"There's a put (option) in 2018 but as long as there's valuethat's going to continue to be generated here, we are happy toparticipate in it," Jimenez said.
Some analysts have suggested that Novartis could use fundsfrom selling its stake to help pay for any acquisitions,including in the hot area of cancer immunotherapy. Jimenez,however, said he did not feel any pressure to do deals in theimmunotherapy field as Novartis had a promising early-stagepipeline of immune system-boosting medicines.
On the broader M&A front, Jimenez reiterated that Novartishad the flexibility to see its credit rating move down for theright deal, although he said the current focus was on smallerbolt-on acquisitions. (Reporting by Ben Hirschler)
Glaxosmithkline (GSK)