Novartis

Novartis International AG

Type	Public (NYSE ADS:NVS)(virt-x:NOVN)
Founded	1996 (from merger)
Location	Basel, Switzerland (Headquarters)
Key people	Daniel Vasella (CEO)
Industry	Pharmaceuticals
Products	Exelon, Lamisil, Neoral, Interceptor, Clomicalm, etc.
Revenue	> $US 25 billion (2004)
Employees	{{{num_employees}}}
Website	http://www.novartis.com

Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland.

History

Novartis was created in 1996 from the merger of CIBA-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories, both Swiss companies with long individual histories. At the time of the merger, it was the largest corporate merger in history. Taking into account the histories of the merger partners, the company's history stretches back to 1758.

In 1998, the company made headlines with its biotechnology licensing agreement with the UC Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Critics of the agreement were concerned that the agreement would diminish academic objectivity or that it would lead to the commercialization of genetically modified plants. The agreement expired in 2003. There are indicia which point to the commercialization of genetically modified ingredients in Novartis' products, at least in Spain (source: Greenpeace Spain).

Novartis combined its agricultural division with that of AstraZeneca to create Syngenta in November of 2000.

Sandoz is best known for synthesizing LSD in 1938. They later marketed it (under the trade name Delysid) as a psychiatric miracle cure from 1947 through the early 1960s. Nowadays, Sandoz is a producer of generics.

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