Logo of Swiss drugmaker Novartis is seen at its headquarters in BaselBy way of Silke Koltrowitz and Sarah White ZURICH/MADRID (Reuters) – Switzerland’s Novartis has agreed to sell its blood transfusion testing unit to Spain’s Grifols for $1.sixty eight billion, in an more and more buoyant marketplace for healthcare offers. The sale comes as Novartis contains out a wider overview of operations below new chairman Joerg Reinhardt, who has defended the firm’s varied nature but stressed out he would best dangle on to companies which might be among world leaders. Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez mentioned on Monday he had began the strategic assessment of Novartis’s businesses – together with the blood unit which contains out assessments to ensure blood transfusions do not include infections – within the spring and the matter had long gone to the board over the summer time. He stated different possible promote-offs had been that you can think of as Novartis examines whether three sub-scale businesses – vaccines and diagnostics, over-the-counter (OTC) products and animal well being – have a long-term future within the crew.