Novartis' Sandoz ruling out biosimilar acquisitions

ZÜRICH (Reuters) - The head of Sandoz, the generics unit of Swiss drug maker Novartis , said he was ruling out acquisitions in the growth market of biosimilars.

Although there has been a notable surge in merger and acquisition activity in recent weeks, Sandoz has all necessary research and development as well as production capacity in place to go it alone, Jeff George said in a preview to an interview with Swiss finance bi-weekly Finanz und Wirtschaft on Friday.

"We are also benefitting from the innovation engine that is Novartis," he said.

In recent weeks, U.S. pharmaceutical companies Amgen