Novartis (NYSE:NVS) stock is rising higher on Friday after the company announced approval for the spinoff of its generic drugs business Sandoz.

Novartis conducted a shareholder vote on Friday seeking approval for the spinoff of Sandoz. The company succeeded in getting investor support for the split. The spinoff of Sandoz would see investors hold 99.7% of represented capital in support of the separation. This will have investors get one share of Sandoz stock for every five shares of NVS that they hold.

Sandoz has a big focus on biosimilars. These are cheaper versions of biologics drugs that are created using modified living cells. The company currently has 25 of these drugs in its pipeline, with plans to launch an additional five over the long term.

Richard Saynor, the CEO of Sandoz, has high expectations for the company. He seeks to take over the top position of biosimilars from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). While that’s a lofty goal, investors will note that Sandoz is already the second-largest maker of these drugs in the world.

NVS Stock Movement Today

Despite the spinoff news, shares of NVS stock aren’t seeing much activity today. As of this writing, only about 474,000 shares have changed hands. That’s still well below its daily average trading volume of about 1.4 million shares.

NVS stock is up 1.2% as of Friday morning.

Investors can find more of the most recent stock market news ready to go below!

We’re offering up all of the hottest stock market stories that traders need to know about on Friday! A few examples of these include what’s happening with shares of Nikola (NASDAQ:NKLA), Volcon (NASDAQ:VLCN), and Axcella Health (NASDAQ:AXLA) stock today. All of that news is ready to go at the links below!

More Stock Market News for Friday

• NKLA Stock Alert: Nikola Announces Canadian Expansion of Dealer Network
• Why Is Volcon (VLCN) Stock Down 32% Today?
• Why Is Axcella Health (AXLA) Stock Down 24% Today?

On the date of publication, William White did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.