Novartis: Good News From the Pipeline

There will no doubt be a round of congratulatory back slapping going on in Novartis’ (NVS) offices today following the news that the FDA has granted marketing approval for the group’s second biggest pipeline product, Menveo, a vaccine for meningitis. However, the fact that shares in the Swiss company have barely moved today indicates that this feat was considered a shoo-in by investors.

Although there is already competition in the market in the form of Sanofi-Aventis’ (SNY) Menactra and Menomune, the introduction of another quadrivalent vaccine that protects against four of the most common strains of meningitis in 11-55 year olds is expected to help to grow sales in this space rather than claw market share from the other incumbents, something that Novartis investors must be pleased about. Estimates from EvaluatePharma show that the market for meningitis treatments is forecast to grow by 19% to $2.88bn by 2014.