Novartis has sold its stake in its consumer health joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline to its British rival for $13bn in an early move by Vas Narasimhan, the Swiss pharmaceuticals group's new boss, to focus on its core business.

The sale of the 36.5 percent share is part of a realignment taking place in the global consumer healthcare sector, which has also seen Pfizer of the US put its consumer healthcare unit up for sale. GSK pulled out of the auction for that business last week. 

The Novartis joint venture with GSK was formed in 2015, but on Tuesday the Swiss group said the cash offer from GSK represented “attractive value”. 

Mr. Narasimham said:  While our consumer healthcare joint venture with GSK is progressing well, the time is right for Novartis to divest a non-core asset at an attractive price. This will strengthen our ability to allocate capital to grow our core businesses, drive shareholder returns, and execute value creating bolt-on acquisitions as we continue to build the leading medicines company, powered by digital and data.

Mr. Narasimhan (pictured) took over as Novartis’s chief executive in February. He was previously head of drugs development. His predecessor, Joe Jimenez, had restructured and streamlined the Basel-based drugmaker following its rapid global expansion through mergers and acquisitions under his predecessor Daniel Vasella.

Mr. Narasimham told the Financial Times soon after his appointment last year that he saw Novartis’s future as a “medicines and data science company, centred on innovation and access.” The disposal of the stake in the GSK venture could heighten speculation that Novartis will also sell its 6 percent stake in Swiss rival Roche, worth about $14bn.

Novartis has already announced plans to spin off and list its under-performing Alcon eyecare business, which could be worth more than $25bn, but has delayed any move until 2019.

The Swiss drugmaker has seen revenues hit in the past two years by the expiry of patents on some of its best-selling medicines. But in January, Mr. Narasimhan said he expected 12 “major” product launches by 2020 would “fuel the next growth phase for the next five years”.

The 2015 deal to create the consumer health joint venture also saw Novartis’ acquiring GSK’s portfolio of cancer drugs.