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Novartis AG is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland. Consistently ranked in the global top five, Novartis is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and was the fourth largest by revenue in 2022.
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; production ceased 2020), 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.[6] 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).[6]