Pharmaceutical firm Novartis (NOV) Wednesday revealed the approval of three medicines in Japan - Equa or vildagliptin for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, Exforge or valsartan/amlodipine for high blood pressure, and Afinitor or everolimus for advanced kidney cancer.
Equa has been approved as monotherapy or in combination with a sulfonylurea. The approval is for doses of 50 mg twice daily, or 50 mg once daily, depending on the needs of the individual patient. An estimated 7 million people in Japan have type 2 diabetes.
Exforge has been approved as a single-pill combination of two treatments for high blood pressure: Diovan or valsartan and amlodipine. Exforge has been shown to be effective across all grades of high blood pressure with placebo-like tolerability, Novartis said. High blood pressure affects an estimated 40 million people in Japan, nearly a third of the population.
Afinitor in tablet form has been approved for the treatment of patients with non-resectable, metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Each year, more than 10,000 people in Japan are diagnosed with kidney cancer.
A once-daily therapy, Afinitor is the first mTOR inhibitor approved to treat advanced kidney cancer patients in Japan.
NVS closed Tuesday's regular trade at $53.70, up from the previous close of $52.88, on 4.41 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.