25 years of development - Novartis affirms long-term commitments to community health

Novartis began its history in 1996 when the Swiss pharmaceutical companies Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz announced the biggest merger in history. Novartis was founded with the vision of accelerating innovation in the health sector.

After the merger in 1996, Novartis embarked on a journey to focus its activities on healthcare, moving away from agriculture and food. International research centres were opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Shanghai. Over the past 25 years, Novartis has achieved medical breakthroughs in cancer care, heart disease, and the fight against inflammatory conditions. The company uses innovative science and technology to address some of society's most challenging healthcare issues. It discovers and develops breakthrough treatments and finds new ways to deliver them to as many people as possible.

Novartis received numerous awards for progress in research and development, working environment, and corporate responsibility activities such as America’s Best Employer’s for New Graduates in 2021 by Forbes, Global Top Employer for 2021, No.3 in the pharmaceutical category of the Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list, and Top 50 Most Innovative Companies list by Boston Consulting Group, among others.

There will be two major milestones to mark the 25th anniversary of Novartis in 2021. Firstly, a new event centre named Novartis Pavillon at its global headquarters in Basel, Switzerland, home to the permanent exhibition Wonders of Medicine will be inaugurated in the fourth quarter of 2021.

In addition, as the next stage of its development, the Novartis Campus in Basel will subsequently be opened in 2021. It will first be open to startups, incubators, accelerators, institutes, companies, and partners; and then to the public during working hours as the second step in 2022.

Amitabh Dube, country president, Novartis Vietnam, said: “We are proud to be part of the achievements. These breakthroughs have helped improve healthcare accessibility for people all over the world. Vietnam and countries worldwide are still facing pressing health issues that need more innovations to address them. Novartis commits to be a reliable partner in this effort, and will continue the discovery and development of new treatments to help more people.”

Novartis' roots in Vietnam reach back to the 1950s through the Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy, and other partners. Over the past two decades, Novartis Vietnam has cooperated with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and domestic and international organisations to launch several programmes to enhance public health awareness, promote training, and strengthen primary healthcare in many cities and provinces.

In 2008, the representative office of Novartis Pharma Services AG was established in Vietnam to promote and support the supply of medicines, and delivery of drugs to patients, as well as clinical trials of Novartis Group. Over the past 13 years, Novartis Vietnam has been focusing on four areas: (i) science-based innovation and clinical trials; (ii) scientific and academic cooperation; (iii) quality and local manufacturing, (iv) patient access to high-quality, innovative healthcare. The company has collaborated with the MoH to support a strong healthcare system that covers the lowest income segments of the population and to provide the Vietnamese people with high-quality medicines, thus contributing to the MoH’s objective to shape a strong and sustainable healthcare system and to achieve universal healthcare coverage.

A lot of significant programmes have been carried out over the past years. In 2014, Novartis and the MoH signed an MoU to enhance the Vietnamese people’s access to essential, affordable generic, and innovative medicines, and strengthen the country's science, medical, and technology capabilities. It is followed by the other MoU inked in December 2019 on raising primary healthcare in Vietnam through activities at commune and district levels from 2019 to 2021, making it a testament to public-private collaboration in this area, aiming to achieve Universal Healthcare Coverage and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

It is worthy to note that 2020 marked a special milestone in Novartis Vietnam’s development journey when it inaugurated its new legal entity in the country and became one of the first multinational companies to successfully transform from a representative office to a foreign-invested enterprise importer. Also that year, the company was honoured as a pioneer in digital transformation for its efforts and outstanding contributions to the digital transformation of the healthcare sector at the National Digital Transformation Congress.

Moreover, Novartis Vietnam teamed up with Docquity to offer an exclusive digital network for medical staff. The company has been also named among the top 100 Vietnam Best Places to Work in the country thanks to its appropriate human resource policies and quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, the company keeps the momentum of good performance with the recognition of a Global Top Employer for 2021, thus contributing to encouraging Novartis to continue attracting talents and strengthening its offering as a destination for employers in the future.

Novartis received a Certificate of Merit from the MoH for its commitment to social responsibility during the COVID-19 pandemic and its contributions to the country’s COVID-19 fight and training of healthcare practitioners (HCPs), among others.

Novartis supports the initiative of six medical universities in Vietnam to train HCPs to serve COVID-19 prevention and control. At least 1,800 final-year medical students got training from April to July 2020. This effort was in response to the call of the government and the MoH, mobilising more than 90,000 HCPs for the pandemic fight.

Moreover, the company has so far donated over $400,000 for the pandemic battle in Vietnam. The company also joined hands with other members of EuroCham Pharma Group to donate an equivalent total of $100,000 to the Vietnam Fatherland Front national campaign on the prevention and treatment of acute respiratory syndrome COVID-19, and donate via the Ho Chi Minh City Red Cross Society medical supplies to frontline hospitals, and COVID-19 treatment centres.

During the pandemic, Novartis has taken effective response plans to ensure the continuation of the supply of medicines, as well as promote technology application to maintain regular medical training for HCPs, thus ensuring healthcare access to the locals.

Novartis’ strategy is to build a leading, focused medicines company powered by advanced therapy platforms and data science. Looking at the next 25 years and beyond, the company will continue reimagining medicine to improve and extend people’s lives.

To implement the strategy, Novartis has five priorities to shape its future and help it continue to create value for the company, its shareholders and society: Unleash the power of its people; Deliver transformative innovation; Embrace operational excellence; Go big on data and digital; and Build trust with society.

In Vietnam, the company will continue to increase collaboration with Vietnamese societies, associations, and health facilities in programmes to improve healthcare services for the Vietnamese, showing its strong commitments to accompanying the local health sector in its sustainable development ahead.