Novartis

A Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation, Novartis International AG, is one of the biggest pharmaceutical corporations in the world by both, sales and market capitalization. It was formed as an independent identity in 1996 by the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy after the two companies merged. Based in Basel, Switzerland, the company is currently headed by
Vasant Narasimhan as its CEO, and is famous for its products like Gilenya, Cosentyx, Lucentis, Tasigna and many more.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), all have Novartis as their full-time member. Business operations have been divided into three divisions by Novartis- Sandoz (generics), Alcon (eyecare) and Innovative Medicines from which Alcon was spun off into a separate company on 12th April 2019, while the innovative medicines business is bifurcated into Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology.

Organization Structure

• Global Product Portfolio:
  • Afinitor Disperz
  • Aimovig
  • Cibacen
  • Comtan
  • Cosentyx
  • Durezol
  • Egaten
  • Exelon
  • Exjade
  • Femara
  • Gilenya
  • Izba
  • Jakavi
  • Lescol
  • Mekinist
  • Pataday
  • Patanol
  • Signifor
  • Systane
  • Travatan, and more
• Novartis Global Pipeline
  • ABL001- Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), 1st line
  • ACZ885- Adjuvant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)
  • BYL719- Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC)
  • Cosentyx- Hidradenitis suppurativa
  • Entresto- Post-acute myocardial infarction
  • Jakavi- Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
  • Kisqali- Hormone receptor-positive, HER2-negative breast cancer (HR+, HER2(-) BC) (adjuvant)
  • Kymriah- Relapsed/refractory Folicular Lymphoma
  • LMI070- Spinal muscular atrophy
  • Lucentis- Diabetic retinopathy
  • PDR001 Combo- Metastatic Melanoma
  • Rydapt- Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) (FLT3 wild type)
  • VAY736- Primary Sjoegren's syndrome
  • Xolair- Nasal Polyps
  • Zolgensma- IV formulation Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1, and more.

Division-wise focus areas:

• Novartis Oncology: Acromegaly, Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Bone Metastasis, Chronic Iron Overload, Cushing’s Disease, Metastatic Melanoma, Multiple Myeloma, SEGA tumors and more.
• Novartis Pharmaceutical:
  • Cancer: Hematology, Kidney Cancer, Melanoma, Lung cancer, etc.
  • Cardio-Metabolic: Heart-Failure, Atherosclerosis and Heart Attack.
  • Immunology and Dermatology: Dermatology, Rheumatology, Rare diseases, Liver,
  • Neuroscience: Multiple Sclerosis, Migraine, Alzheimer’s disease, Specialty Neurology.
  • Ophthalmology: Glaucoma, Gene Therapy, Dry eye diseases, retinal diseases, etc.
  • Respiratory: severe Allergic Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
• Sandoz:
  • Anti-Infective
  • Respiratory

Mergers & Acquisitions:

• Xiidra: the dry eye drug Xiidra was acquired by Novartis from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. for a consideration of up to $5.3 billion in May 2019, as a step to refresh its ophthalmic medicines portfolio with a potential blockbuster.
• IFM Therapeutics: a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies that modulate novel targets in the innate immune system, IFM Therapeutics (IFM), was acquired by Novartis in April 2019, for an upfront payment of $310 million and other up to $1.265 billion in milestone payments.
• CellforCure: a French Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO), CellforCure was acquired by Novartis in December 2018 as a step to bring in additional manufacturing capacity to make their transformational CAR-T cell therapy Kymriah to more patients around the world.
• Endocyte: a US-based biopharmaceutical company focused on developing radioligand and chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for cancer treatment, Endocyte was acquired by Novartis in December 2018 with Endocyte valued at $2.1 billion.
• AveXis: in April 2018, Novartis announced the acquisition of AveXis for $218 per share in cash amounting to $8.7 billion, in cash.

News and Facts:

• Fortune Magazine’s Most Admired Companies Pharmaceutical Industry list of 2019 ranks Novartis at #4.
• Government of Cameroon and Novartis Access signs an agreement to fight chronic diseases.
• To address the rapid rise of chronic illness among poor people in Pakistan, Novartis Access signed an MoU with the Government of Pakistan.
• On 9^th April 2019, Alcon, once the eye care division of Novartis, became a separately traded standalone company.

Corporate Social Responsibility:

The CSR strategy at Novartis is focused on holding the company at the highest ethical standards, helping tackle global health challenges, being a part of the solution on pricing and access to medicines and also being a responsible citizen.

• Holding the highest Ethical Standards:
  • Launched the newly harmonized Risk Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) process within the Integrity & Compliance (I&C) function.
  • Commitment to transparency and disclosure.
• Being part of the solution for pricing and access:
  • Assessing the company’s R&D portfolio against unmet needs.
  • Developing effective affordability strategies.
  • Quantifying The Affordability Gap
  • Launching the Novartis Access Program
  • Strengthening healthcare systems for maximum impact
  • Leveraging Digital Tech
• Addressing global health challenges:
  • Helping address the needs of children
  • Tackling leprosy elimination
  • Partnering on Chagas and sickle cell disease
  • Addressing drug resistance
• Being a responsible citizen
  • Helping ensure patient health and safety
  • Combating Falsified And Counterfeit Medicines
  • Working With Patients And Caregivers
  • Further integrating human rights in their business

Novartis aims to fulfill the purpose of reimagining medicine and to do so; Novartis has developed an empowered culture of diversity, inspiration, curiosity and inclusivity with the help of committed, responsible and talented people from different communities and backgrounds. The company’s values are the supporting pillars of its culture, describing the professional behaviors they expect from their employees and also helping the management in recruiting people, developing them and assessing and rewarding their performance.

Values Ingrained at Novartis:

• Innovation: everything done at Novartis is done with innovation at heart by encouraging employees to experiment and take informed risks
• Quality: to improve and extend people’s lives, it is essential to supply good quality medicines by continuously enhancing technologies, standards and also learning from their mistakes.
• Collaboration: employees are encouraged to team up and value each other’s contribution to the final product and also give critical feedback.
• Performance: while maintaining ethical standards, the employees are encouraged to take smart risks and achieve goals.
• Courage: employees are encouraged to stand up for their ideas and have to courage to do the right thing in the face of resistance.
• Integrity: people at Novartis commit to the highest level of ethical standards and honesty towards their colleagues and customers.