M2 Presswire, 9/1999).
Also in September 1999, Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, the U.S. pharmaceuticals division of Novartis, moved its entire operation to East Hanover, New Jersey. The corporation had originally split its headquarters between Summit, New Jersey (1,440 employees) and East Hanover (2,900 employees). The company also planned to build a $100 million drug research facility in East Hanover, which would add hundreds of jobs there. The move was estimated to bring job cuts over five years, although the specific number of lay-offs was still undetermined (Shook, 1999). Notably, Novartis was simultaneously increasing its salesforce, which promotes drugs directly to doctors and hospitals (Silverman, 1999).
In December 1999, Novartis joined forces with British-Swedish competitor AstraZeneca to create a leading agrochemical firm, Syngenta (Xinhua News Agency, 1999). AstraZeneca and Novartis claimed the merger would allow them to cut duplicate administrative, marketing and manufacturing costs. However, at the t
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