Novartis

Novartis' new building, designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry

Created in 1996 through the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, Novartis (its name derived from the Latin for ‘new skills’) is one of Switzerland’s two major pharma companies, Roche being the other.

In 2009 the company saw its net sales rise 11% in local currencies to $44.3 billion (+7% in dollars) achieved thanks to strong growth across its divisions and global markets.

Among the star performers was cancer treatment Glivec, which saw sales rise 12% to $3.9 billion.

In January 2010, Joe Jimenez was announced as the company's new chief executive. Jimenez takes over the lead role from Daniel Vasella, who has been at the helm for 14 years. Formerly head of Novartis' pharmaceutical business, Jimenez said from the outset that he would 'de-layer and simplify' the top leadership structure.

Jimenez told Reuters he shared Vasella’s strategic vision of ‘focused diversification’ to help the company continue its growth.

"[Daniel Vasella and I] both believe that the portfolio now is broadly right to help us grow into the future so I don't anticipate seeing significant changes there. I'm going to step back and think through how we're going to set the agenda for the next few years."

The simplifying of the company’s leadership structure see its executive committee cut from 12 to nine.

Pharmaceuticals: new patent-protected medicines $ 26.3 billion in 2008 Vaccines and Diagnostics: Human vaccines and diagnostic tools$ 1.8 billion 2008Sandoz: Generic medicines$7.6 billion 2008Consumer Health: over the counter medicines and other products$ 5.8 billion 2008

Pharma division

The company’s pharmaceutical division focuses on 5 key therapy areas:

Cardiovascular and Metabolism

• Diovan (valsartan) and Diovan HCT/Co-Diovan (valsartan andhydrochlorothiazide) together comprise the world’s best-sellingbrand of high blood pressure medicines.

• Tekturna/Rasilez (aliskiren), the first new type of hypertension medicine in more than a decade.

Oncology and Haematology

• Femara (letrozole tablets/letrozole) is a once-daily oral aromataseinhibitor for the treatment of early-stage or advanced breastcancer in postmenopausal women. First launched in 1996.• Gleevec/Glivec (imatinib mesylate/imatinib) is a signal transductioninhibitor approved to treat certain forms of chronicmyeloid leukemia (CML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors(GIST). First launched in 2001. 

• Neuroscience and Ophthalmics

• Exelon (rivastigmine tartrate) is a treatment for mild to moderateAlzheimer’s disease and the only approved product for the treatmentof mild to moderate dementia associated with Parkinson’s disease.

• Lucentis (ranibizumab) is the first approved treatment for “wet” age-related macular degeneration (AMD) shown to improve vision. AMD is considered the leading cause of blindness in the over-50s.

Respiratory

• Xolair (omalizumab) the first humanised monoclonal antibodyapproved for the treatment of moderate to severe allergic asthmain the US and for severe allergic asthma in Europe inadolescents (aged 12 and above) and adults.

Immunology and Infectious Diseases

• Neoral (cyclosporine) is an immunosuppressant to prevent organrejection following a kidney, liver or heart transplant. Neoral isone of the world’s most commonly used primary immunosuppressants,largely replacing its predecessor Sandimmun/ Sandimmune, which revolutionized organ transplantation when it was introduced by Novartis in 1982.