Corporate Philanthropy - Best Practices at Novartis AG

The origin of the Novartis Foundation can be traced back to the year 1979. At that time, it was known as the Ciba-Geigy Foundation for Cooperation with Developing Countries (Ciba-Geigy Foundation). The Foundation was formed to help Third World countries fight against health and poverty related problems. It was particularly active in the areas of leprosy and TB. After the formation of Novartis, the Foundation was renamed as the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development. The Novartis Foundation acted as a link between the company and the community. It communicated the happenings in the external world to the management of Novartis.

The WHO had recommended Multidrug Therapy (MDT) to treat leprosy . Two of the drugs used in MDT, clofazimine and rifampicin were developed by Novartis. Since the year 1995, Novartis had been providing MDT for leprosy patients and was one of the two suppliers providing leprosy drugs to the WHO. From 1998, MDT was sourced exclusively from Novartis. In 1999, the Global Alliance for Elimination of Leprosy was formed at the initiative of the WHO. The members in the alliance were the WHO, leprosy endemic countries , the International Federation of Anti Leprosy Associations, the Nippon/Sasakawa Memorial Health Foundation, and Novartis...