Novartis scraps sale of assets including Covid-19 drug to Aurobindo Pharma

Novartis AG on Thursday scrapped the $1 billion sale of US generic pill and skin drug assets to India's Aurobindo Pharma Ltd as regulators balked, setting back the Swiss drugmaker's shift to more profitable medicines.

The cancellation leaves hydroxychloroquine, an older malaria drug that Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan is touting as a potential coronavirus treatment, in its Sandoz generic unit's portfolio.

Novartis is donating 130 million hydroxychloroquine doses to support efforts against the epidemic, though the European Union has so far said there is no proof it works.

Novartis said the Aurobindo deal's collapse was not coronavirus-related, from