History of Novartis The history of Novartis traces back to three companies: Geigy, whose origins go back to the middle

of the 18th century; Ciba, founded around 1859; and Sandoz, established in 1886. 1996-2001 Syngenta is created through the merger of the agribusiness units of Novartis and AstraZeneca. The antiviral products Famvir and Vectavir/Denavir are acquired from SmithKline Beecham. Novartis American Depositary Shares (ADSs) are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Dr. Daniel Vasella becomes Chairman of the Board of Directors, retaining his position as Chief Executive Officer.The Novartis Research Foundation announces establishment of the Novartis Institute for Functional Genomics. Novartis announces an agreement to acquire Merck's crop protection business.In December 1996, Novartis is created through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz to create one of the world's largest healthcare companies. 2002 Novartis increases its investment in Roche Holding AG to just under one-third of Roche's voting shares. Lek Pharmaceuticals, a Slovenian generic pharmaceuticals company, is acquired by Sandoz for USD 900 million. Associated British Foods acquires the Food and Beverage Business Unit as part of a decision by Novartis to divest the Health and Functional Food business. Novartis unifies and strengthens its global research network by creating the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), headquartered in the US. 2003 Acquisition of the worldwide adult medical nutrition business of Mead Johnson and Company, a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers Squibb, is announced. A majority interest in Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a US-based biotech company focused on antiviral and anti-infective therapies, is acquired as part of a strategic expansion into antiviral medicines. 2004 The Novartis Institute for Tropical Disease opens in Singapore with a focus on biomedical research for dengue fever and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Novartis acquires two generics companies: the Danish firm Durasacan A/S from AstraZeneca, and Sabex Holdings Ltd. of Canada. Novartis submits Xolair (omalizumab) for EU approval for the treatment of allergic asthma, with approval granted in 2005. The Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) announce a joint project with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to research the genetic causes of type 2 diabetes. Findings from the project will be available online, accessible by scientists worldwide. Several Novartis generic pharmaceutical businesses are unified under Sandoz, and the unit is named as a division of the Novartis Group, joining Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health. The Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development celebrates its 25th anniversary with a symposium on the right to health. 2005 Data from a landmark trial shows that more than 90% of patients taking Gleevec/Glivec (imatinib mesylate) to treat chronic myeloid leukemia were alive after more than four years of treatment. The Glivec International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP) has provided free treatment to nearly 27,000 patients in more than 80 countries who otherwise would not have access to this innovative therapy. Novartis acquires Hexal AG, a leading generics company based in Germany, and Eon Labs, an American generics company, making Sandoz a world leader in generic pharmaceuticals. Aclasta gains regulatory approval in Europe as a treatment for Paget's disease of the bone. Aclasta/Reclast is subsequently approved in both the US and EU as the first and only once-yearly treatment for women with postmenopausal osteoporosis in 2007. Novartis acquires the North American OTC brand portfolio of Bristol-Myers Squibb, expanding Novartis presence with several strong brands. Novartis reaches agreement to buy the remaining stake in Chiron Corporation and the acquisition is completed in April 2006. Novartis and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. create an alliance focused on discovering innovative therapies based on RNA interference (RNAi), an approach that has potential to treat disease in a new way by silencing disease-causing genes. Exjade (deferasirox), a breakthrough once-daily oral iron chelator, receives approval in the US for the treatment of chronic iron overload due to blood transfusions in adults and children. Exjade is approved in the EU in 2006. 2006 Novartis announces the creation of a strategic biomedical R&D center in Shanghai, China.

The Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) initiates research on malaria - estimated to kill more than one million people annually - as part of a new public-private partnership. Through a partnership with the WHO, Novartis provides its highly-effective anti-malaria treatment Coartem (artemether- lumefantrine) without profit in developing countries. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grants Novartis a contract for up to USD 220 million to build a cell culture-based influenza vaccine production plant in the US, recognizing Novartis as a leader in influenza vaccine development. Omnitrope (somatropin [rDNA origin]) receives European Commission approval as the first product approved under the European Union's new regulatory pathway for follow-on biological products. The approval of Omnitrope is part of Sandoz strategy to offer follow-on biotech products after patent expiry. 2007 Novartis enhances its vaccines pipeline through partnership with Intercell. Based in Vienna, Austria, Intercell is biotechnology company that designs and develops of vaccines to prevent and treat infectious diseases.Novartis is solely focused on healthcare after completing non-core business divestments of the Gerber and Medical Nutrition Business Units to Nestl for USD 5.5 billion and USD 2.5 billion respectively.Novartis is ranked No. 1 among pharmaceutical companies in Fortune magazine's ''World's Most Admired Companies'' survey. Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) inaugurates an Indonesian research initiative to study dengue fever, tuberculosis and malaria. This collaboration between NITD, the Eijkman Institute in Jakarta, and the Hasanuddin University Clinical Research Institute in Makassar will recruit top scientists from Indonesia and provide NITD researchers access to patients suffering from these diseases. Tekturna/Rasilez, the first new type of high blood pressure medicine in more than a decade, receives approvals in the US and the EU. 2008 Novartis reaches an agreement with Nestl S.A. offering Novartis the right to acquire majority ownership of Alcon Inc., the world leader in eye care with pharmaceutical, surgical and consumer products. Novartis opens a new vaccine research institute in Siena, Italy - the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health - with a nonprofit mission to exclusively focus on the development of vaccines for diseases of the developing world. Novartis is named healthcare super sector leader in the 2008 update of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index and is included in the 2008 World's Most Ethical Companieslist from Ethisphere Institute. The company also moves up five positions, to number 20, in the Barron'smagazine list of the world's most respected companies.

Gleevec/Glivec becomes the first US FDA-approved treatment for use after gastrointestinal stromal tumor surgery. Novartis announces a 20% reduction in the price of its antimalaria medicine Coartem due to efficiency gains in production. In 2008 Novartis made 70 million treatments of this leading antimalarial available without profit. 2009 Novartis delivers the 250 millionth treatment of Coartem, a highly effective artemisinin-based combination therapy for malaria. From 2001 to the end of 2009, a total of 300 million treatments have been delivered, saving an estimated 750 000 lives in more than 60 malaria-endemic countries. Novartis becomes the first company to produce influenza A (H1N1) vaccines with modern cell-culture biotechnology that complements 50-year-old egg-based production processes. In Holly Springs, North Carolina, Novartis opens the first large-scale US-based manufacturing facility for influenza cell-culture vaccines and adjuvants. Novartis announces USD 1 billion investment over five years in China to build the country's largest pharmaceutical R&D institute. Prevacid24HR launches in pharmacies and retail stores across the US to treat frequent heartburn for a full 24 hours with one pill a day. The launch marks one of the biggest Rx-to-OTC switches in the US. 2010 New management is in place for the next phase of growth. Novartis completes CEO succession with appointment of Joseph Jimenez as new CEO and simplifies its leadership organization. Dr. Daniel Vasella will focus on strategic priorities as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Novartis proposes to complete purchase of majority stake in Alcon, followed by all-share direct merger of Alcon into Novartis. The addition of eye care will strengthen the Novartis healthcare portfolio and provide greater access to this attractive sector. In a major innovation milestone, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves Gilenya as the first oral treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Gilenya was also approved in Russia and Switzerland. Menveo, approved in Europe and the United States for immunization of adolescents and adults to prevent invasive meningococcal disease caused by four of the five most common types of the bacteria that causes the disease. Sandoz enoxaparin approved by the FDA as the first generic version of the low molecular weight heparin that helps prevent formation of bloods clots.

WIKIPEDIAS

Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number two in sales (46.806 billion US$) among the world-wide industry in 2010.[2] Novartis manufactures such drugs as clozapine (Clozaril), diclofenac (Voltaren), carbamazepine (Tegretol), valsartan (Diovan), imatinib mesylate and (Gleevec / Glivec). Additional agents include ciclosporin (Neoral / Sandimmun), letrozole (Femara), methylphenidate (Ritalin), terbinafine (Lamisil), and others. Renamed to Novartis following an acquisition by Ciba-Geigy, it owns Sandoz, a large manufacturer of generic drugs. The company formerly owned the Gerber Products Company, a major infant and baby products producer, but sold it to Nestl on 1 September 2007.[3][4][5][6] Novartis is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)[7] and of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA).[8]

History

Novartis AG headquarters in Basel

Novartis was created in 1996 from the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories, both Swiss companies with long histories. Ciba-Geigy was formed in 1970 by the merger of J. R. Geigy Ltd (founded in Basel in 1758) and CIBA (founded in Basel in 1859). Combining the histories of the merger partners, the company's effective history spans 250 years.[9] In 2012, the Company cut ~2000 positions in the United States, most in sales, in response to anticipated revenue downturns from the hypertension drug Diovan, which was losing patent protection, and the realization that the anticipated successor to Diovan, Rasilez, was failing in clinical trials.[10] The 2012 personnel reductions follow ~2000 cut positions in Switzerland and the United States in 2011, ~1400 cut positions in the United states in 2010, and a reduction of "thousands" and several site closures in previous years.[11]

Novartis became the biggest manufacture of generic skin care medicine, after agreed to buy Fougera Pharmaceuticals for $1.525 billion in cash on May 2, 2012.[12]
Ciba-Geigy

Johann Rudolf Geigy-Gemuseus (17331793) began trading in 1758 in "materials, chemicals, dyes and drugs of all kinds"[17] in Basel, Switzerland. Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian (18301917) and Johann Muller-Pack acquired a site in Basel in 1857, where they built a dyewood mill and a dye extraction plant. Two years later, they began the production of synthetic fuchsine. In 1901, they formed the public limited company Geigy and the name of the company was changed to J. R. Geigy Ltd in 1914. In 1859, Alexander Clavel (18051873) took up the production of fuchsine in his factory for silk-dyeing works in Basel. In 1864, a new site for the production of synthetic dyes was constructed, and in 1873, Clavel sold his dye factory to the new company Bindschedler and Busch. In 1884, Bindschedler and Busch was transformed into a joint-stock company with the name "Gesellschaft fr Chemische Industrie Basel" (Company for Chemical Industry Basel). The acronym, CIBA, was adopted as the company's name in 1945. In 1925, J. R. Geigy Ltd. began producing textile auxiliaries,[clarification needed] an activity which Ciba took up in 1928. In 1939, Geigy chemist Paul Hermann Mller discovered that DDT was effective against malaria-bearing insects. He received the 1948 Nobel Prize in Medicine for this work. CIBA and Geigy merged in 1971 to form Ciba-Geigy Ltd. ( /sib ai/). In 1996 this company merged with Sandoz, with the pharmaceutical divisions of both staying together to form Novartis, other Ciba-Geigy businesses being spun off as independent companies.
Sandoz

The Chemiefirma Kern und Sandoz ("Kern and Sandoz Chemistry Firm") was founded in 1886 by Alfred Kern (18501893) and Edouard Sandoz (18531928). The first dyes manufactured by them were alizarine blue and auramine. After Kern's death, the partnership became the corporation Chemische Fabrik vormals Sandoz in 1895. The company began producing the fever-reducing drug antipyrin in the same year. In 1899, the company began producing the sugar substitute, saccharin. Further pharmaceutical research began in 1917 under Arthur Stoll (1887 1971), who is the founder of Sandoz's pharmaceutical department in 1917.[18] In 1918, Arthur Stoll isolates ergotamine from ergot; the substance is eventually used to treat migraine and headeaches and is introduced under the trade name Gynergen in 1921. Between the World Wars, Gynergen (1921) and Calcium-Sandoz (1929) were brought to market. Sandoz also produced chemicals for textiles, paper, and leather, beginning in 1929. In 1939, the company began producing agricultural chemicals.

The psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were discovered at the Sandoz laboratories in 1943 by Arthur Stoll and Albert Hofmann (patent by Stoll and Hofmann in USA on Mar. 23, 1948). Sandoz began clinical trials and marketed the substance, from 1947 through the mid 1960s, under the name Delysid as a psychiatric drug, thought useful for treating a wide variety of mental ailments, ranging from alcoholism to sexual deviancy. Sandoz suggested in its marketing literature that psychiatrists take LSD themselves,[19] to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience, and many did exactly that and so did other scientific researchers. For several years, the psychedelic drugs also were called "psychotomimetic" because they were thought to mimic psychosis. Later research caused this term to be abandoned, as neuroscientists gained a better understanding of psychoses, including schizophrenia. Research on LSD peaked in the 1950s and early 1960s. Sandoz withdrew the drug from the market in the mid-1960s. The drug became a cultural novelty of the 1960s after psychologist Timothy Leary at Harvard University began to promulgate its use for recreational and spiritual experiences among the general public. Sandoz opened its first foreign offices in 1964. In 1967, Sandoz merged with Wander AG (known for Ovomaltine and Isostar). Sandoz acquired the companies Delmark, Wasabrd (a Swedish manufacturer of crisp bread), and Gerber Products Company (a baby food company). On 1 November 1986, a fire broke out in a production plant storage room, which led to Sandoz chemical spill and a large amount of pesticide being released into the upper Rhine river. This exposure killed many fish and other aquatic life. In 1995, Sandoz spun off its specialty chemicals business to form Clariant. Subsequently, in 1997, Clariant merged with the specialty chemicals business that was spun off from Hoechst AG in Germany. In 2005, Sandoz expanded significantly though the acquisition of Hexal, one of Germany's leading generic drug companies, and Eon Labs, a fast-growing United States generic pharmaceutical company. "Sandoz" continues to be used as a Novartis generic drug brand (see below for details).
After the merger

Suffern, New York: one of the Novartis pharmaceutical production facilities in the United States

After the merger, Novartis reorganized its operating units and spun out its chemical activities as Ciba Specialty Chemicals (now a part of BASF). In 1998, the company made headlines with its biotechnology licensing agreement with the University of California at Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Critics of the agreement expressed concern over prospects that the agreement would diminish academic objectivity, or lead to the commercialization of genetically modified plants. The agreement expired in 2003. Novartis combined its agricultural division with that of AstraZeneca to create, Syngenta, in November 2000. In 2003, Novartis created a subsidiary that bundles its generic drug production, reusing the predecessor brand name of Sandoz.[20] In 2005, Novartis introduced Certican (Everolimus), an immunosuppressant, and in October 2006 began marketing Telbivudine, a new antiviral drug for hepatitis B. On 20 April 2006, Novartis acquired the California-based Chiron Corporation. Chiron formerly was divided into three units: Chiron Vaccines, Chiron Blood Testing, and Chiron BioPharmaceuticals, to be integrated into Novartis Pharmaceuticals. Chiron Vaccines and Chiron Blood Testing now are combined to form Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. The ongoing Basel Campus Project has the aim to transform the St. Johann site - Novartis headquarters in Basel - "from an industrial complex to a place of innovation, knowledge, and encounter".[21] On 12 October 2009, Novartis has entered into an agreement for exclusive US and Canadian rights to Fanapt(iloperidone), a new oral medication that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the acute treatment of adults with schizophrenia.[22] On 6 November 2009, Novartis reached an agreement to acquire an 85% stake in the Chinese vaccines company Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as part of a strategic initiative to build a vaccines industry leader in this country and expand the Group's limited presence in this fast-growing market segment. This proposed acquisition will require government and regulatory approvals in China.[23] On 4 January 2010, Novartis offered to pay US $39.3 billion to fully acquire Alcon, the world's largest eye-care company, including a majority stake held by Nestl. Novartis had bought 25% of Alcon in 2008.[24] On 11 March 2010, Novartis settled their patent suit in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey with IntelliPharmaCeutics International, Ltd., a Canada-based specialty pharmaceutical company, and its licensee Par Pharmaceutical Inc. over a generic version of the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug Focalin XR (dexmethylphenidate hydrochloride).[25]

Today

As of 2009, Novartis is the largest Swiss company and one of the largest pharmaceutical firms in the world. It produces a variety of proprietary drugs to treat such conditions as hypertension, Parkinson's and leukemia.

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