Businessweek

Novartis AG, through its subsidiaries, engages in researching, developing, manufacturing, and marketing a range of healthcare products led by pharmaceuticals worldwide. The company’s portfolio includes medicines, eye care, generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and diagnostic tools, over-the-counter (OTC), and animal health products. Divisions The company operates through five divisions: Pharmaceuticals, Alcon, Sandoz, Vaccines and Diagnostics, and Consumer Health. PHARMACEUTICALS This division researches, develops, manufactures, distributes, and sells patented prescription medicines and is organized in various business franchises, including oncology; primary care, consisting of primary care medicines and established medicines; and specialty care, including ophthalmology, neuroscience, integrated hospital care, and critical care medicines. This division provides patent-protected medicines to patients and physicians. This division is organized into global business franchises responsible for the commercialization of various products, as well as Novartis oncology, a business unit responsible for the global development and commercialization of oncology products. The product portfolio of this division includes approximately 50 primary marketed products. In addition, this division's portfolio of development projects includes 130 new products and new indications or new formulations for existing products in various stages of clinical development. Products Oncology Gleevec/Glivec (imatinib mesylate/imatinib mesylate) is a kinase inhibitor approved to treat patients with metastatic and/or unresectable KIT+ gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), as an adjuvant treatment for certain adult patients following resection of KIT+ GIST, and as a targeted therapy for Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (Ph+ CML). Gleevec/Glivec is available in approximately 110 countries. Gleevec/Glivec is also approved in the United States (U.S.), the European Union (EU), and Japan to treat Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rapidly progressive form of leukemia. Gleevec/Glivec is also approved in the U.S. and the EU to treat dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans, a rare solid tumor; hypereosinophilic syndrome and myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative diseases; and other rare blood disorders. In the U.S., Gleevec is approved for aggressive systemic mastocytosis. Gleevec/Glivec has received approvals as a post-surgery (adjuvant setting) therapy for certain KIT+ GIST patients in approximately 60 countries, including the U.S. and the EU. Tasigna (nilotinib) is a signal transduction inhibitor of the tyrosine kinase activity of Bcr-Abl, KIT, and the PDGF-receptor. Tasigna is approved in approximately 95 countries to treat patients with Ph+ CML in the chronic and/or accelerated phase who are resistant or intolerant to existing treatment, such as Gleevec/Glivec. It is also approved in approximately 70 markets, including the U.S., the EU member states, Switzerland, and Japan, to treat newly diagnosed patients in the chronic phase. Results from the global, randomized Phase III trial called ENESTnd (Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in Clinical Trials of Newly Diagnosed Ph+ CML Patients), a head-to-head comparison against Gleevec/Glivec, showed that Tasigna produced faster and deeper responses than Gleevec/Glivec in adult patients with newly diagnosed Ph+ CML. Zometa (zoledronic acid for injection/zoledronic acid 4 mg) is a major treatment to reduce or delay skeletal-related events, including pathologic fracture, spinal cord compression, and/or requirement of radiation therapy or surgery to bone, in patients with bone metastases (cancer that has spread to the bones) from solid tumors and multiple myeloma. Zometa is approved in approximately 100 countries for this indication, as well as for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma and patients with bone metastasis from solid malignancies, including prostate, breast, and lung cancer. Zoledronic acid, the active ingredient in Zometa, is also available under the trade names Reclast/Aclasta for use in non-oncology indications.