Novartis has felt the dampening effect of generic drugs at the start of the year. Nevertheless, management confirmed its previous outlook for the further course of business. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox Turnover for the first quarter totalled $13.1 billion, a decrease of 1% compared to the same period last year. At constant exchange rates, the decline was 5%. By comparison, revenue in the final quarter of 2025 was still up by 1% and in the third quarter of the year by 8%. According to its own earlier statements, the pharmaceutical group will experience the heaviest burden from copycat drugs in its history in the coming months because the billion-euro drugs Entresto, Promacta and Tasigna have lost their patent protection. CEO Vas Narasimhan estimated the impact on sales at around $4 billion at the beginning of February. The impact is likely to be significantly greater in the first half of the year, he added. The Basel-based company recorded a 9% drop …