Sandoz

Sandoz is the generics subsidiary of Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company. The company develops, manufactures and markets off-patent medicines as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnological active ingredients.

Sandoz reported sales in 2006 were US$ 6 billion. It employs more than 20,000 people in 110 countries. Its global headquarters are in Holzkirchen, Germany, just south of Munich. Major production sites include Broomfield, Colorado, Kalwe, Kundl, Ljubljana, Magdeburg, Stryków, and Wilson, North Carolina.

Sandoz was founded in 2003 under the brand name of one of the predecessor companies of Novartis. Before the merger to form Novartis in 1996, Sandoz Laboratories was a Swiss pharmaceutical company, best known for inventing LSD in 1938 and later marketing it as a psychiatric drug under the trade name Delysid. The laboratories also made saccharin and a number of other now-common chemicals.

Origins
The Chemiefirma Kern & Sandoz ("Kern & Sandoz Chemistry Firm") was founded in 1886 by Dr. Alfred Kern (1850-1893) and Edouard Sandoz (1853-1928). The first dyes manufactured there were alizarine blue and auramine. After Kern's death, the partnership was changed to the corporation Chemische Fabrik vormals Sandoz in 1895. The company began producing the fever-reducing drug antipyrin in the same year.

Industrial chemicals
Between the World Wars, Gynergen (1921) and Calcium-Sandoz (1929) were brought to market. Sandoz also produced chemicals for textiles, paper, and leather beginning in 1929. In 1939, they began producing agricultural chemicals.

Drug development
From 1899, the sugar substitute saccharin was produced. Prior to the merger of Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis in 1996, Sandoz also engaged in drug development. Pharmaceutical research began in 1917 under Professor Arthur Stoll (1887-1971). In 2005, Sandoz expanded significantly though the acquisition of Hexal, one of Germany’s leading generics company, and Eon Labs, a fast-growing U.S. generic pharmaceutical company.

Invention of LSD
The psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were discovered at the Sandoz laboratories in 1943 by Albert Hofmann. Sandoz began clinical trials, and marketed the drug under the name Delysid as a psychiatric drug thought useful for treating a wide variety of mental ailments, from alcoholism to sexual deviancy. Sandoz suggested in its literature that psychiatrists take LSD themselves, to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience, and many did exactly that. For several years, the psychedelic drugs were also called "psychotomimetic" because they were thought to mimic psychosis. Later research caused this term to be abandoned, as neuroscientists gained a better understanding of psychoses, including schizophrenia. Research on LSD peaked in the 1950s and early 1960s. Sandoz withdrew the drug from the market in the mid 1960s.

Expansion and mergers
Sandoz opened its first foreign offices in 1964.

In 1967, Sandoz merged with the Wander AG (known for Ovomaltine and Isostar). Sandoz acquired the companies Delmark, Wasabröd (Swedish manufacturer of crisp bread), and Gerber Products Company baby food makers.

In 1995, Sandoz spun off it's speciality chemicals business to form Clariant. Subsequently, in 1997, Clariant merged with the speciality chemicals business that was spun off from Hoechst in Germany.

In 1996, Sandoz merged with Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis. Novartis reorganized its activities, spinning out its chemicals activities as Ciba Specialty Chemicals and preserving the Sandoz name as its generics arm.

In 2002, Sandoz expanded with the acquisition of Slovenian company Lek, which employs about 2,820 people.

In 2005, Sandoz expanded greatly with the acquisition of Hexal of Germany and Eon Labs of the U.S. Sandoz headquarters relocated to that of Hexal, in Holzkirchen, Germany. CEO of Sandoz, currently, is Andreas Rummelt.

Environmental accidents
On November 1, 1986, a fire broke out in a production plant storage room, which led to a large amount of pesticide being released into the upper Rhine. This exposure killed many fish.