At the time of the purchase, a proposal for a merger under Swiss merger law was given to the Alcon board of directors. The merger was agreed upon on December 15, 2010, making Alcon "the second largest division within Novartis." The merger was completed on April 8, 2011.Ilevro was launched by Alcon on January 21, 2013. In 2014 and 2015, net sales by Alcon grew, contributed to in part by the increased volume in sales of Ilevro. That financial year, Novartis reported $18 billion in total financial debt. That figure has grown steadily since. In 2016, Novartis reported a total debt of $23.8 billion, up from the $21.9 billion reported in 2015  and the $20.4 billion reported in 2014. As of May 2017, Novartis is estimated to be worth $193.2 billion.On January 27, 2016, Alcon was moved to become a branch of the Innovative Medicines Division at Novartis. Early in 2016, Alcon formed agreements with both TrueVision and PowerVision, and acquired Transcend Medical. As of January 2017, Novartis is weighing options for Alcon in the business structure. Commercial risks
Alcon faced declining growth in 2016, having faced challenges in development and marketing of new products. Marketing
Novartis maintains a detailing unit geared toward health professionals consisting of over 3,000 employees within the United States and an additional 21,000 worldwide. Novartis is also seeking to expand direct-to-consumer advertising and entrance into specialty product markets.
Novartis also notes the influence of position and preference on US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid formularies in expanding their market value.Nepafenac, Nevanac, and Ilevro are all absent from the 2016 Annual Report issued from Novartis. Intellectual property
There are currently seven U.S. patents filed that are directly associated with the modernized formulations of nepafenac, all stemming from Novartis. There are three patents associated with Nevanac that are still active and four associated with Ilevro. The earliest patent related to the modern formulations of nepafenac was approved on June 11, 2002, after being filed in 1999, by Bahram Asgharian. A patent was filed by Warren Wong, associated with Alcon, Inc. based out of Fort Worth, Texas, on December 2, 2005, for aqueous suspensions of nepafenac. Another patent for a nepafenac-based drug was filed on May 8, 2006, by Geoffrey Owen, Amy Brooks, and Gustav Graff. A patent was filed by Masood A. Chowhan and Huagang Chen on February 9, 2007, and approved on May 24, 2011, followed closely by a patent filed by Warren Wong on September 23, 2010, and approved on December 6, 2011. Masood A. Chowhan, Malay Ghosh, Bahram Asgharian, and Wesley Wehsin Han filed another patent on December 1, 2010, and approved on December 30, 2014. The most recent patent was filed by Masood A. Chowhan, Malay Ghosh, Bahram Asgharian, and Wesley Weshin Han on November 12, 2014, and approved on May 30, 2017.