FRANKFURT, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Novartis raised

its medium-term sales guidance on Thursday to 6% annual growth

through 2028, driven by momentum of launched drugs and the

prospect of upcoming launches.

The Swiss drugmaker was previously targeting mid-term

currency-adjusted sales growth of at least 5% from 2023 to 2028.

However, the company said it was still expecting 5% sales

growth per year during the 2024-2029 period, given its strong

performance in 2024.

CEO Vas Narasimhan has cut jobs and spun off Novartis'

generic drugs business Sandoz to narrow its focus on drug

development in certain disease and technology areas.

The company, which will hold an investor event on Thursday,

reaffirmed that it was targeting a core margin of at least 40%

by 2027.

The group also raised the peak annual sales estimate for

five drugs with multi-billion dollar sales potential, including

breast cancer drug Kisqali with at least $8 billion, up from $4

billion seen previously.

Last month, it raised its 2024 earnings guidance for the

third time, buoyed by wider use of its drugs, but its shares

have since declined almost 9% as sales of radio-pharmaceutical

Pluvicto disappointed investors, as did a write-down on German

biotech company MorphoSys ( MPSYF ), which it is acquiring.

The Swiss company said Pluvicto, which contains radioactive

particles to kill cancer cells, had at least $5 billion in peak

sales potential, as against a "multi-billion" opportunity seen

earlier.

Winning approvals for wider use of Pluvicto in prostate

cancer would drive growth as many smaller treatment centres have

yet to embrace the new treatment that was pioneered by large

academic medical centres.

The company also said last month's $800 million

impairment on MorphoSys ( MPSYF ) was due to delays in the approval of its

lead compound pelabresib, designed to treat a rare type of

slowly progressing blood cancer.

Presentation slides on Thursday showed the drug to have

"multi-billion" annual peak sales potential and would start to

generate revenue before 2029.

The CEO, however, said in a call that there remained some

uncertainty whether it would come to market at all, with a

launch eyed in 2027 at the earliest because trial participants

need longer drug-safety monitoring.