Novartis tried to put a disappointing first quarter behind it with a raid on generic dermatology specialist Fougera – it's offering a respectable $1.5bn (£937m). The deal adds scale to the company's portfolio of generic skin medicines through its Sandoz subsidiary.
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Medium-sized acquisitions shouldn't be a problem this year for Novartis, but ratings agency Fitch says Novartis, along with Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer, has less headroom on its balance sheets for a big debt-financed acquisition without risking a ratings downgrade.
