ZURICH (Reuters) - Novartis expects to increase its annual sales by least 5% per year in the coming years, CEO Vas Narasimhan said in an interview on Saturday, with the pharmaceuticals giant having nothing to fear from the end of patent protection on some drugs.

"I am very confident that we will achieve average growth of at least 5% per year until 2028," Narasimhan told Swiss newspaper Finanz und Wirtschaft.

This would be made possible by eight or nine drugs with multi-billion dollar sales, he told the newspaper, although a big challenge will be maintaining the pipeline of new medications.

Narasimhan said he was confident the company would reach its growth target despite the imminent expiry of patents on some medications including Entresto used to treat heart failure.

"We also expect sales and profit growth for 2025. We will announce a specific forecast in January," said Narasimhan, who has led Novartis since 2018.

"In the past, the expiry of major patents in our industry has often led to declining sales, but this is not to be feared at Novartis."

The company will not, however, increase its core operating profit margin much beyond the current level of 40.1%, Narasimhan said.

"I consider a margin in the low 40% range to be sufficient - higher margins are generally not rewarded in the pharmaceutical industry as they come at the expense of investments in research, development and sales growth," he said.

Novartis will also consider acquisitions, with a focus on bolt-on deals worth less than $1 billion.

"Of course, we will continue to look for deals of up to $10 billion or more," Narasimhan said. "However, our analysis shows that the track record of such deals in the sector has historically been rather poor."

(Reporting by John Revill; editing by Jason Neely)