Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG saw net profits rise 12 per cent to $US2.73 billion ($A2.58 billion) in the second quarter amid strong sales of new products and healthy growth in emerging markets such as China.

Still, the strength of the Swiss franc weakened bottom-line results and chief executive Joseph Jimenez said he would look at ways to reduce the company’s costs in Switzerland, where it has a large workforce but only 1.5 per cent of global sales.

“When the Swiss franc appreciates against the dollar we have the benefit on the sales side but we get a hit on the cost side,” Jimenez said. The American-born CEO said he was aiming to “reduce the total cost that we have in Swiss francs. I wouldn’t want to speculate whether that meant jobs or meant anything else.”

Analysts noted that the company’s generics drugs division Sandoz and eyecare unit Alcon contributed to a strong operating result. Novartis’ core net profit, which excludes exceptional one-off costs, rose to $US3.56 billion ($A3.37 billion) from $US2.77 billion in the second quarter of 2010.

Shares in Novartis rose 3 per cent on the Zurich exchange to 51 francs.

Group sales in the April to June period increased by 27 per cent to reach $US14.92 billion ($A14.11 billion) from $US11.72 billion last year. Factoring out the weakness of the US dollar, sales rose 19 per cent in constant currencies.

Sales grew 30 per cent in China and 20 per cent in India during the quarter, reflecting the company’s efforts to expand into new markets.

Jimenez also highlighted the successful recent launch of oral multiple sclerosis medicine Gilenya, which had sales of $US138 million ($A130.53 million) this year and $US79 million ($A74.73 million) in the second quarter alone.

“This is turning out to be one of the most successful product launches in recent years,” he said.

The integration of Alcon, and the decreased year-on-year distortion from the sale of pandemic flu vaccine also helped Novartis’ bottom line in the second quarter.