Novartis announced on Tuesday that its net sales in the second quarter of 2020 stood at $11.34 billion, falling 4% from the same period a year ago and missing market estimates. Earnings per share (EPS) dropped 10% year on year to $0.82 and net income was down 11% to $1.87 billion.

Operating income slid 12% to $2.35 billion. Meanwhile, core EPS rose 1% to $1.36, core net income amounted to $3.11 billion in the three month period and core operating income stood at $3.67 billion.

"Novartis performed strongly in the first half, despite the impact from COVID-19, demonstrating the resilience and agility of our associates and operations. We continued to advance our broad range of efforts to support the COVID-19 pandemic response," CEO Vas Narasimhan stated.