Novartis hopes to still play a role in the development of Covid-19 treatments with research ongoing for a pill that could work broadly against coronaviruses, not just the one that causes Covid-19, chief executive Vas Narasimhan has told Reuters.

In an interview following his recent presentation at Total Health last week, the head of the Swiss drugmaker pointed to Novartis' manufacturing support to Covid-19 vaccine and drug makers when asked if it had been on the sidelines during the pandemic.

“Now I would have loved for some of our own clinical trials to have worked out, but they didn't. I mean, that's part of the deal,” Narasimhan said. “I think we as a sector have collaborated extremely well to ultimately be the industry that enabled this pandemic over time to eventually be under control.”