Sandoz Laboratories was a Swiss pharmaceutical company, best known for inventing LSD in 1938 and later marketing it as a psychiatric miracle drug under the trade name Delysid. The laboratories also developed saccharin and a number of other now-common chemicals. Sandoz merged with CIBA-Geigy to form Novartis in 1996.

History

The Chemiefirma Kern & Sandoz ("Kern & Sandoz Chemistry Firm") was founded in 1886 by Dr. Alfred Kern (1850-1893) and Edouard Sandoz (1853-1928). The first dyes manufactured there were alizarine blue and auramine . After Kern's death, the partnership was changed to the corporation Chemische Fabrik vormals Sandoz in 1895. The company began producing the fever-reducing drug antipyrin in the same year.

In 1899, the sugar substitute saccharin was developed.

Pharmaceutical research began in 1917 under Professor Arthur Stoll (1887-1971).

Between the World Wars, Gynergen (1921) and Calcium-Sandoz (1929) were brought to market. Sandoz also produced chemicals for textiles, paper, and leather beginning in 1929. In 1939, they began producing agricultural chemicals.

The psychedelic effects of LSD were discovered at the laboratories in 1943. Sandoz began clinical trials, and marketed the drug under the name Delysid as a psychiatric cure-all useful for treating a wide variety of mental ailments, from alcoholism to sexual deviancy . Sandoz suggested in its literature that psychiatrists take LSD themselves, to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience, and many did exactly that. Research on LSD peaked in the 1950s and early 1960s. Sandoz withdrew the drug from the market in the mid 1960s. See also LSD.

Sandoz opened its first foreign offices in 1964.

In 1967, Sandoz merged with the Wander AG (known for Ovomaltine and Isostar). Sandoz acquired the companies Delmark , Wasa (Swedish cracker manufacturers), and Gerber Products Company baby food makers.

On November 1, 1986, a fire broke out in a production plant storage room, which led to a large amount of pesticide being released into the upper Rhine. This exposure led to many fish dying.

In 1996, Sandoz merged with Ciba and formed Novartis.

External links

• Sandoz official website