Overview

Vasant "Vas" Narasimhan is an Indian-American physician and businessman who has served as CEO of Novartis; one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies; since February 2018. A Harvard Medical School graduate and former McKinsey consultant; Narasimhan became the youngest CEO in Novartis history at age 41. His tenure at Novartis became entangled in the Trump-Russia scandal when it was revealed that Novartis had paid $1.2 million to Michael Cohen's shell company Essential Consultants LLC; the same entity used for the Stormy Daniels hush money payment; for supposed healthcare policy consulting services. Cohen had virtually no healthcare expertise; and Novartis employees described the arrangement as an attempt to gain access to the Trump administration. Novartis also came under scrutiny for the pricing of Zolgensma; its gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy; at $2.125 million per dose; making it the most expensive single-treatment drug in history. The FDA discovered that Novartis subsidiary AveXis had manipulated data in the Zolgensma application. Under Narasimhan; Novartis also paid $729 million to settle kickback allegations related to its drug Exjade; with the DOJ alleging the company bribed doctors with speaker fees and lavish dinners to prescribe its products.

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Controversies & Concerns

Related Investigations (1)

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Sources & Documentation

1 documented sources from official records, investigations, and reports