REFILE-URGENT-Novartis sees faster growth, H1N1 boost in Q4

(Refiles to tag story as 'urgent' instead of 'update 1' in headline field. Text unchanged.)

ZURICH Oct 21 (Reuters) - Novartis' (NOVN.VX) third-quarter net profit nudged up 1 percent to $2.1 billion, hit by one-off costs and in line with forecasts, and the drugmaker expects a boost from its H1N1 swine flu vaccine in the fourth quarter.

Novartis, which faces loss of exclusivity on its top-selling blood pressure drug Diovan in 2012, on Thursday raised its full-year forecast and now expects group sales to grow at a high-single-digit rate, even excluding H1N1 pandemic flu vaccine sales.

It also raised the drugs sales forecast to growth at a double-digit rate in 2009, though currency-related losses could significantly reduce growth.

It is turning out to be a better year for big drugmakers like Novartis than initially feared, thanks to hefty price increases and windfall sales from swine flu, though the long-term problems like increasing generic competition have not gone away.

Novartis had been expected to post third-quarter net profit of $2.1 billion, according to a Reuters poll. [ID:nLG252880] (Reporting by Sam Cage)