One of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, the Swiss multinational Novartis traces its history and that of its predecessor companies back to the first dye factories in Basel in the early 19th century.

This second edition of the company's history covers early exports and expansion abroad, the unparalleled upsurge of the chemical industry in Basel during the First World War and then the emergence of pharmaceuticals in the interwar years. The enormous challenges of the Second World War were followed by an economic boom in the 1950s and 60s, the merger of CIBA and Geigy, the numerous diversifications in the 1970s and 80s, the merger of Ciba and Sandoz to found Novartis, and finally the first 25 years of Novartis. Those 25 years have included innovations in pharmaceuticals and medicine, and game-changing technologies such as the modification of T-cells.

In addition to the running text, fifteen thematic articles outline the company's widely different innovations: from CIBA's early hormone preparations to the outstanding graphic design of Geigy Design, from revolutionary drugs like Sandimmune or Gleevec right through to the Novartis Campus project.