NOVARTIS
SUCCESS : These companies shared a common trait
which lives on at Novartis: a passion for developing and
marketing new products that contribute to human
progress through advances in science and health.
FOUNDERS : Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz ( 1996)
Building on this heritage, today Novartis focuses its
INOVATION : It is one of the largest pharmaceutical innovation prowess on addressing the unmet needs of
companies by both market capitalization and sales. patients worldwide.
They use science-based innovation to address some Mission : is to discover new ways to improve and extend
of society's most challenging healthcare issues. people's lives.
They discover and develop breakthrough treatments Strategy : is to build a leading, focused medicines
and find new ways to deliver them to as many people company powered by advanced therapy platforms and
as possible. We also aim to provide a shareholder data science.
return that rewards those who invest their money, Values : underpin our company culture. They describe the
time and ideas in our company.
professional behaviors we expect from our employees.
HISTORY : The company has a rich history spanning These values are an integral part of the framework we
over 200 years, The history of Geigy goes back to the use to recruit people, develop them, and assess and
middle of the 18th century, Ciba was founded around reward their performance.
1860, and Sandoz was set-up in 1886. In 1970 Ciba They believe in diversity
and Geigy merged to form Ciba-Geigy Ltd. Sandoz and THINGS DONE DIFFERENTLY : Change marketing stratergy
Ciba-Geigy Ltd continued as separate entities for the for better results.
next 25 years. In 1996, in one of the largest corporate
mergers in history Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy Ltd. Joined
to form Novartis a pharmaceutical company
LAGUNA PHARMACEUTICALS ChanTest, a company providing testing services to help
drug developers assess cardiac risk, had acquired the
compound more than a decade ago. In 2006, ChanTest
spun out a new company, ChanRx, to advance the drug.
In 2011 ChanRx reported Phase 2 results in 2013 that
appeared very promising. Over three-fourths of the
FOUNDERS : Bob Baltera (2015) patients given the highest oral dose (400 mg) of
Vanoxerine converted to a normal heart rhythm within
INOVATION : Laguna Pharmaceuticals was a 8 hours, and 84 percent converted within 24 hours a
biopharmaceutical company founded with the singular success rate close to the electrical shock treatment
goal of improving the care of patients suffering from known as direct current [Link] move into
cardiovascular disease. Their lead clinical candidate, Phase 3 trials, ChanRx raised an additional $30 million
vanoxerine, was in late-stage human clinical trials for in venture funding and recruited Baltera as CEO. The
treatment of atrial fibrillation. It has potential to company moved from Cleveland to San Diego, and
change the paradigm by providing a safe and effective changed its name to Laguna Pharmaceuticals.
pharmaceutical option to the current standard of care, Vanoxerine was the only drug the company had under
direct current cardioversion. In clinical investigation to development.
date, vanoxerine has shown to be well-tolerated and THINGS DONE DIFFERENT :
has demonstrated efficacy nearing the level of direct Produce more drugs
current cardioversion. Research and collect more data
FAILURE : After early results from a late-stage trial of
the company’s lone drug candidate revealed
previously unseen safety [Link] drug was a 1,4-
dialkylpiperazine derivative (Vanoxerine) intended to
treat atrial fibrillation.
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