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Investing.com -- Bank of America (BofA) has turned more constructive on two of Europe’s largest drugmakers, upgrading Novartis to Buy and GSK to Neutral as both companies approach a heavy year of product launches and pivotal readouts that could define their mid-term growth paths.
For GSK, BofA raised its price objective to 2,000 pence and highlighted a busier-than-usual 2026 that brings “2 launches (Blenrep and Depemokimab) and 3 key pipeline events,” including an HIV investor day and Phase III data for Camlipixant and Bepirovirsen.
Analysts led by Sachin Jain argue that consensus expectations for both Blenrep and Depemokimab remain conservative, with BofA forecasting £275 million and £340 million in 2026 sales, ahead of Visible Alpha consensus.
They note that GSK’s guidance of £3 billion peak sales for each asset offers meaningful optionality, particularly as the company prepares to manage a multi-year HIV patent cliff.
Analysts said these events “help shape narrative of growth in Specialty business potentially being sufficient to offset the HIV patent cliff,” citing the gap between GSK’s mid-term revenue guide of more than £40 billion by 2031 and flat consensus expectations around £32–34 billion.
Upcoming data for chronic cough and hepatitis B are viewed as key swing factors, alongside the company’s strategy to shift more of the HIV portfolio toward new injectable regimens.
Separately, BofA upgraded Novartis shares to Buy and increased its price target to CHF117. The bank frames 2026 as a pivotal pipeline year, with 7 Phase 3 studies “to unlock path through patent cliff” and a combined peak-sales opportunity of $15.6 billion.
“Our upgrade is predicated on mid- to late-stage pipeline shifting balance versus key off-patent exposure,” the analysts wrote, pointing to data for pelacarsen, remibrutinib, del-desiran, del-brax, zigakibart, ianalumab and abelacimab.
They also highlight several launches already scaling — including Pluvicto, Scemblix and Leqvio — and note that additional products such as Rhapsido and ianalumab are set to contribute meaningfully.