For pharmaceutical company Novartis, times are good. Maybe even very good. The Basel-based company said it posted a 4% gain in net income for the second quarter, but said net income would have increased 15%, excluding the charges for its purchase of Chiron earlier this year for $5.4 billion. In the competitive pharmaceutical sector, a 4% growth in net income is respectable but Novartis knows the addition of vaccine maker Chiron will only help boost its bottom line. Chiron, on its own, had 2005 revenue of $1.9 billion and net income of $259 million. That was a jump from 2004 when Chiron reported revenue of $1.7 billion and net income of $152 million. But for the second-quarter, Novartis' reported its vaccines and diagnostics unit posted a second-quarter operating loss of $38 million on sales of $127 million, due to a $67 million one-time charge related to the deal for Emeryville, Calif.-based Chiron. As for the future, Novartis CEO remains optimistic for the rest of 2006 and said his company would achieve "another year of record sales and earnings." With the company's momentum it looks like that will certainly happen. — Gerald Magpily
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