Novartis Company

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. on Wednesday became the second company to launch a prescription discount program for low-income elderly Americans, but analysts said it would not lower costs enough for many seniors. The move by the unit of Swiss drug giant Novartis follows a similar announcement last month by GlaxoSmithKline in response to growing demands for price relief. One-third of Medicare recipients lack prescription-drug coverage; but since Sept.

Drug maker Novartis made a bid to become a leading player in the growing global market for eye-care products Monday with an announcement that it plans to take control of Alcon Inc. by paying $28 billion for a total 77% stake in the company. Novartis will pay cash for Nestle's 52% stake before a merger with Alcon of Hunenberg, Switzerland, that would give it control of the remaining 23% held by shareholders. The Basel, Switzerland, drug maker had already purchased 25% of Alcon from Nestle in April 2008 for $11 billion, with the option of buying the food and drinks company's remaining stake at a later date.

A unit of Novartis agreed to pay $49.2 million in civil and criminal fines and be excluded from federal healthcare contracts to resolve a probe into its marketing of nutritional products to Medicare and Medicaid. Novartis' OPI Properties will pay a criminal fine of $4.5 million for trying to obstruct a federal audit, said Ronald J. Tenpas, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Illinois. The company will pay an additional $44.

Novartis said it would cut 2,500 jobs worldwide by 2010, the latest major pharmaceutical company to make sizable cutbacks as industry costs rise, more patents expire and researchers continue to chase the next blockbuster drug. The company offered a downbeat outlook for its U.S. pharmaceutical business in the first quarter, citing generic competition for four drugs and lost sales from a discontinued product.

Novartis Corp. agreed Monday to modify questionable advertising claims for its prescription motion-sickness drug, Transderm Scop. But the Swiss pharmaceutical giant said it won't remove the claims from its package insert, which the government approved when the drug was introduced more than 20 years ago. Advertising watchdogs said similarly confusing situations are likely to arise as prescription drug advertising becomes more prevalent. Pharmaceutical firms spent $1.

Novartis, Europe's third-largest drug maker, agreed to help Genentech Inc. develop and market its experimental eye treatment Lucentis, which treats the main cause of blindness in people over 50. The pair will split Lucentis' development costs, and Novartis will sell it outside the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Genentech will get undisclosed research payments and royalties on sales, Switzerland-based Novartis said. South San Francisco-based Genentech's shares rose 5 cents to $71.70 on the NYSE.

Pasadena-based Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. said Tuesday that it signed an exclusive contract to oversee all future engineering and construction projects for global drug giant Novartis. Jacobs will be the only company to provide engineering, architecture and other related services for Novartis in the United States, Europe and India. Neither financial terms nor length of the contract was disclosed.

A widely prescribed drug for severe constipation is being taken off the market after it was linked to a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, federal regulators said Friday. Doctors said the voluntary withdrawal of Zelnorm by its manufacturer would leave few options for patients who suffer from a type of irritable bowel syndrome that affects about 12 million Americans, mostly women. "This is really a sort of one-of-a-kind drug," said Dr.

Genentech Inc. and Novartis' allergy drug anti-IgE appeared effective during company tests in reducing asthma flare-ups, Genentech said, sending its shares up 10%. South San Francisco-based Genentech and Novartis expect to apply for regulatory approval of the drug, also called E-25, in mid-2000. Analysts said the drug has blockbuster potential because of the number of people who suffer from allergy and asthma.

Novartis said profit rose 9.2%, beating analyst estimates, as the company's heart medicine Diovan and cancer drug Gleevec helped it win market share. Net income rose to $1.65 billion, or 70 cents a share, from $1.51 billion, or 63 cents, a year earlier, Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis said. Analysts expected profit of $1.57 billion, according to a survey by Bloomberg. Revenue rose 12% to $7.8 billion. Novartis increased its share of the world pharmaceutical market to 4.6% from 4.

A widely prescribed drug for severe constipation is being taken off the market after it was linked to a higher risk of heart attacks and strokes, federal regulators said Friday. Doctors said the voluntary withdrawal of Zelnorm by its manufacturer would leave few options for patients who suffer from a type of irritable bowel syndrome that affects about 12 million Americans, mostly women. "This is really a sort of one-of-a-kind drug," said Dr.

En Li left China in 1986, convinced that was the best way to become a world-class biologist. The alternative was getting trained at poorly equipped Chinese labs or universities hollowed by the Cultural Revolution. So the graduate of Peking University went to Boston and obtained a doctorate in biology from MIT. He joined the faculty at Harvard Medical School, teaching and doing cutting-edge research in genetics.

Novartis' Lek unit sued Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. and Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc., seeking royalties on the cholesterol medicine Pravachol. Lek owns two patents for crystalline forms of pravastatin, the key ingredient in Pravachol. Changes in the crystal make the compound more stable and pure, according to the patents issued in May 2004 and July 2006. Lek claims that the Bristol-Myers version of the drug uses pravastatin in the forms covered by the patents. Pravachol, approved by U.S.

Swiss drug maker Novartis has sued a Baxter International Inc. unit, claiming that it is cutting off supplies of the only drug approved to treat canine Addison's disease, a sometimes fatal glandular disorder in dogs. Novartis Animal Health US Inc., based in Greensboro, N.C., said in a complaint on Friday in Wilmington, Del., that Baxter abruptly ended a 10-year agreement to produce the drug Percorten-V.

Nestle, the world's biggest food and drink company, will buy the medical nutrition unit of pharmaceutical company Novartis for $2.5 billion, the companies said Thursday. Nestle will acquire such brands as Boost and Resource nutritional supplements, and Optifast dieting products. The deal still needs regulatory approval but is expected to be completed during the second half of 2007, Nestle said.

A successful cancer-fighting drug may also damage the heart, although a researcher says leukemia patients who need Gleevec should not abandon it. While effectively treating cancer, Gleevec can lead to heart failure in some patients, said Dr. Thomas Force, who teaches medicine at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia.

Novartis said its anti-cancer drug Gleevec is receiving a priority review from the Food and Drug Administration for use by a wider range of sufferers.

Novartis said Tuesday that it would invest $600 million to build the first plant in the United States to develop flu vaccines using advanced cell-culture techniques. The Swiss drug maker's investment comes as companies rush to develop faster techniques for making flu vaccine as the specter of pandemic avian flu looms. The new cell-culture techniques would replace the 50-year-old vaccine technology that required fertilized chicken eggs and six months production time.

Swiss drug maker Novartis said Monday that second-quarter profit climbed 4.1% as sales of its heart pill Diovan and cancer medicine Gleevec offset costs related to the acquisition of Chiron Corp. Net income rose to $1.71 billion, or 72 cents a share, from $1.64 billion, or 70 cents, a year earlier, the Basel-based company said. Revenue rose 18% to $9.18 billion, but the Chiron purchase resulted in costs of $209 million for the quarter.