Novartis is showing the way for big pharmaceutical groups to become more productive, according to its chief executive, as the Swiss group pushes through a sweeping reorganisation aimed at boosting growth and saving billions of dollars in costs.

Joe Jimenez said he was targeting “very significant” improvements in profit margin after the completion of a $20 billion asset swap with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and a shake-up of the group’s back-office operations.

He said Novartis was at the forefront of an industry-wide push towards greater efficiency as big pharma came under pressure from investors to increase returns at the same time as healthcare providers round the world were trying to rein in drug prices.

“The whole industry has shifted to managing costs in a tighter manner because reimbursement [for medicines] is more difficult and because the cost of developing a new drug is higher,” he said.

Mr Jimenez said the exchange of assets with GSK had made Novartis more streamlined and focused. The Swiss group swapped its sub-scale vaccines unit for several GSK cancer drugs while the pair formed a joint-venture in consumer healthcare.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2015