Novartis India Limited is a subsidiary of
pharmaceutical major Novartis AG. Here is a brief profile and history of
Novartis.
Novartis India
Novartis India Limited is a subsidiary of Novartis AG. Novartis AG is
amongst the world's leading pharmaceutical and consumer health
companies. Novartis business operations comprise pharmaceuticals,
vaccines and diagnostics, generics, over-the-counter segment (OTC), and
animal health. Novartis has operations in 140 countries and its
headquarter is in Basel, Switzerland.
The origin of Novartis is linked to the origin of three distinct
companies: Geigy, Ciba, and Sandoz. The history of Geigy goes back to
the middle of the 18th century, Ciba was founded around 1860, and Sandoz
was set-up in 1886. In 1970 Ciba and Geigy merged to form Ciba-Geigy
Ltd. Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy Ltd continued as separate entities for the
next 25 years. In 1996, in one of the largest corporate mergers in
history Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy Ltd. joined to form Novartis. In 1998,
Novartis set-up the Novartis Institute for Functional Genomics. In 2000,
Novartis acquired the products Famvir and Vectavir/Denavir from
SmithKline Beecham. In 2001, Novartis Respiratory Research Centre, the
largest of its kind in the world, was opened in Horsham (UK). In 2003,
Novartis united its generics businesses under one single global brand:
Sandoz. In 2005, Novartis and Astex Therapeutics formed an alliance to
focus on novel cell cycle anti-cancer drugs.
Products Developed by Novartis
Pharmaceuticals: Novartis Pharmaceuticals develops over 40
general and specialty prescription medicines in 7 different therapeutic
areas. Some of the popular pharmaceutical brands developed by Novartis
are Diovan, gleevec, LOTREL, ZOMETA, and LAMISIL.
Vaccines and Diagnostics: Novartis Vaccines provides a host of
vaccines and conventional products to combat viral and bacterial
diseases across the globe.
Generics: Sandoz pharmaceuticals are generic bioequivalents of
innovative, brand name products and include retail generics,
biopharmaceuticals and anti-infectives.
Animal Health: Novartis manufactures a number of products for
pets and farm animals.
Over the Counter Products: Novartis is leading manufacturer of
self-medication products for the in-home treatment and prevention of
medical conditions and ailments.
Note: The above information was last updated on 21-07-2007
