Novartis AG announced on July 10 that it is to reorganise its pharmaceuticals division into three new groups - primary care, mature products and specialty businesses - in an attempt to speed up the introduction of new products to the market. The reorganisation is to be accompanied by a reshuffle of the senior management team.
Mr Jerry Karabelas is to be replaced as global head of pharmaceuticals by Mr Thomas Ebeling, currently chief operating officer of the pharmaceuticals division. The heads of the three new pharmaceuticals groups will report to Mr Ebeling.
The primary care group will be responsible for developing and launching new medicines. These will include Zelmac (tegaserod) for irritable bowel syndrome, Starlix (nateglinide) for type II diabetes and Xolair (olizumab), an antibody treatment for asthma. The unit will also be responsible for some of the existing and still growing pharmaceutical products, such as Diovan (valsartan), and for products in earlier stages of development. The company's established medicines will become the responsibility of the mature products group. This will seek to "optimise the economic value of older products, using new models to expand their sales potential".
The specialty businesses group will consist of three units - oncology, transplantation and ophthalmics. This latter unit will be transferred from Ciba Vision, which is to concentrate on vision correction, including contact lenses and lens care.