science

Novartis

Novartis is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Novartis rather than just read about it. In short: Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by revenue in 2024.

Key takeaways

Novartis belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Novartis to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Novartis from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the eighth largest by revenue in 2024. Novartis manufactures the drugs clozapine (Clozaril), diclofenac (Voltaren; sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2015 deal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), valsartan (Diovan), imatinib mesylate (Gleevec/Glivec), cyclosporine (Neoral/Sandimmune), letrozole (Femara), methylphenidate (Ritalin; produced by Sandoz since 2023), terbinafine (Lamisil), deferasirox (Exjade), and others. Novartis was formed in 1996 by the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. It was considered the largest corporate merger in history during that time. The pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both companies formed Novartis as an independent entity. The name Novartis was based on the Latin terms, novae artes (new skills). After the merger, other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were sold, or, like Ciba Specialty Chemicals, spun off as independent companies. The Sandoz brand disappeared for three years, but was revived in 2003 when Novartis consolidated its generic drugs businesses into a single subsidiary and named it Sandoz. Novartis divested its agrochemical and genetically modified crops business in 2000 with the spinout of Syngenta in partnership with AstraZeneca, which also divested its agrochemical business. The new company also acquired a series of acquisitions in order to strengthen its core businesses. Novartis is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). Novartis is the third most valuable pharmaceutical company in Europe, after Novo Nordisk and Roche.

History Novartis was created in March 1996 and began operations on 20 December from the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories, both Swiss companies.

Ciba-Geigy Ciba-Geigy was formed in 1970 by the merger of J. R. Geigy Ltd (founded in Basel in 1857) and CIBA (founded in Basel in 1859). Ciba began in 1859, when Alexander Clavel (1805–1873) took up the production of fuchsine in his factory for silk-dyeing works in Basel. By 1873, he sold his dye factory to the company Bindschedler and Busch. In 1884, Bindschedler and Busch was transformed into a joint-stock company named "Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie Basel" (Company for Chemical Industry Basel). The acronym, CIBA, was adopted as the company's name in 1945. The foundation for Geigy was established in 1857, when Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian (1830–1917) and Johann Muller-Pack acquired a site in Basel, where they built a dyewood mill and a dye extraction plant. Two years later, they began the production of synthetic fuchsine. In 1901, they formed the public limited company Geigy, and the name of the company was changed to J. R. Geigy Ltd in 1914. CIBA and Geigy merged in 1970 to form Ciba‑Geigy Ltd. .

Mid-1990s controversy In the mid-1990s, state and federal health and environmental agencies identified an increased incidence of childhood cancers in Toms River, New Jersey, from the 1970–1995 period. Multiple investigations by state and federal environmental and health agencies indicated that the likely source of the increased cancer risk was contamination from Toms River Chemical Plant (then operated by Ciba-Geigy), which had been in operation since 1952, and the Reich Farm/Union Carbide. The area was designated a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in 1983 after an underground plume of toxic chemicals was identified. The following year, a discharge pipe was shut down after a sinkhole at the corner of Bay Avenue and Vaughn Avenue revealed that it had been leaking. The plant ceased operation in 1996. A follow-up study from the 1996–2000 period indicated that while there were more cancer cases than expected, rates had significantly fallen and the difference was statistically insignificant compared to normal statewide cancer rates. Since 1996, the Toms River water system has been subject to the most stringent water testing in New Jersey and is considered safe for consumption. Dan Fagin's Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation, the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning book, examined the issue of industrial pollution at the site in detail.

Sandoz

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Novartis

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Novartis claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Novartis before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Novartis ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Novartis

In research: Novartis appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Novartis in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Novartis is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1996 mergers and acquisitions, Biotechnology companies established in 1996, Biotechnology companies of Switzerland, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Novartis outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Novartis in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Novartis means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Novartis out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Novartis in simple terms?

Why does Novartis matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Novartis?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Novartis.