Novartis China aims at 1b yuan in OTC drug sales by 2014

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis AG has said it aims to quintuple China sales and be one of the top 5 transnational firms in the domestic over-the-counter (OTC) drugs market by 2014.

The company, which is planning to sell 200 million yuan worth of OTC products in China this year, said it is looking at sales of 1 billion yuan in five years' time.

"We are going to expand in the China market by releasing over 20 OTC drugs by 2011," said Warren Jiang, head of Novartis' OTC division in China.