On July 7, Novartis fell 4.48% in after-hours trading, trading at $157.03/share, with turnover of $1.0869 million. The decline was driven by dual headwinds from a forgery scandal linked to China's centralized drug procurement process and persistent concerns over the company's accelerating capital expenditure.

On the news front, China's National Healthcare Security Administration disclosed that during the product selection phase of the 12th national centralized drug procurement round, a foreign originator pharmaceutical company submitted a purported expert recommendation letter bearing signatures of 78 physicians from 31 hospitals, attempting to influence procurement decisions. Verification revealed that over 80% of the signatures were falsified. Industry speculation pointed to Novartis, though the company subsequently issued a statement denying it was the entity in question.

Compounding the negative sentiment, Novartis announced an agreement to acquire UK biotech firm Myricx Bio for up to $1.5 billion, including $1.1 billion upfront and up to $400 million in milestone payments. This follows a string of major deals this year, including the $2 billion Excellergy acquisition and the $1.9 billion Antares Therapeutics oncology collaboration, fueling investor concerns over aggressive spending ahead of its next earnings report on July 21.

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