"We don't see a slowdown in the healthcare area, quite the opposite, you see we have had a very strong third quarter in healthcare and in the agribusiness," Breu said in a telephone interview.

"It tells you that pharmaceuticals is a business that tends to be fairly immune to economic cycles," he added.

Earlier on Thursday Novartis reported nine month sales of 24.59 billion Swiss francs, up three per cent in Swiss francs and six per cent in local currencies, compared to 23.51 billion in the 1997 nine-month period.

It also forecast a markedly higher group net profit for the full year.

Breu also said the translation of other currencies back into a strengthening Swiss franc would not have a negative impact.

"On the bottom line it is not an issue because we have hedged the dollarextensively this year because we saw it coming so we do not expect a negative impact on the bottom line," Breu said.

He noted that the franc averaged 1.48 to the dollar during the first nine months this year, but would probably average about 1.32 francs in the fourth quarter.