Novartis CEO Earned Almost Twice as Much as Roche CEO Last Year

A gulf has opened up between the CEO pay packets of Switzerland’s two biggest drugmakers.

Novartis AG chief executive officer Vas Narasimhan received $19.2 million in total compensation last year, compared to 10 million Swiss francs ($11 million) for Roche Holding AG CEO Thomas Schinecker. Novartis’s Narasimhan got 160% of his annual incentive payout, based on a scorecard of financial targets.

Novartis’s earnings and sales beat analysts’ expectations last year and the drugmaker repeatedly raised its forecast.

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“We had very strong performance the last two years, and I ...