2020 Revenues ($USD) : $48,659,000,000
2020 R&D spend : $8,980,000,000
2020 Number of Employees : 105,794
Fiscal Year End : 12/31/2020
Key People : Dr. Vasant (Vas) Narasimhan, CEO; Steven Baert, chief people & organization officer; Dr. James (Jay) Bradner, president of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR); Thomas N. Kendris, ad interim chief legal officer; Harry Kirsch, CFO; Steffen Lang, global head of Novartis Technical Operations (NTO); Klaus Moosmayer, chief ethics, risk & compliance officer; Richard Saynor, CEO of Sandoz; Susanne Schaffert, president of Novartis Oncology; Dr. John Tsai, head of global drug development and chief medical officer; Marie-France Tschudin, president of Novartis Pharmaceuticals; Robert Weltevreden, head of Customer & Technology Solutions (CTS); Bertrand Bodson, strategic advisor to the CEO; Dr. Lutz Hegemann, group head of corporate affairs and global health; Natacha Theytaz, global head of Novartis Business Assurance & Advisory and head of internal audit; Michael Willi, chief communications officer

The Basel, Switzerland-headquartered company divides its operations into units focused on generics (Sandoz), eye care (Alcon) and innovative medicines. Its Sandoz subsidiary is one of the largest generic drug makers. In 2020, the division earned consolidated net sales of $9.6 billion, which was roughly one-fifth of the company's total revenue. In January 2020, the company completed its $9.7 billion acquisition of the Medicines Company and its novel cholesterol-lowering therapy candidate, inclisiran. The drug won EU approval in December, but the company did not win FDA approval for the drug in 2020. The agency did not share concerns about inclisiran's safety or efficacy but had questions regarding the Italian facility that helped manufacture the drug. The pandemic also precluded the agency from conducting a site inspection. In 2020, Novartis did manage to score an FDA approval for Evrysdi (risdiplam) to treat patients with spinal muscular atrophy. —BB