UPDATE
Novartis relocates UK headquarters to London
The WestWorks in London’s White City, located on a 1.9 million-square-foot campus, will house Novartis’ UK headquarters from January 2020.
According to a company spokesperson, the new headquarters represents a “multi-million-pound investment” that will bring four business units together: Pharmaceuticals, oncology, global drug development, and Novartis business services.
“We are now working with employees to help shape how this move will work for, and the new office used by, them,” we were told.
White City is building a reputation as a growing life sciences cluster, the firm continued.
“White City is quickly becoming one of the UK’s life sciences and technology districts, and the ethos of The WestWorks campus complements how we work to deliver on our strategy to reimagine medicine,” said Haseeb Ahmad, Novartis UK country president in a statement.
Imperial College London’s new research and innovation campus is also located at White City, which according to the university’s VP of innovation, David Gann, could lead to public-private collaborations.
“Novartis is a natural fit for White City’s booming life sciences ecosystem, and we hope that this move will pave the way to new collaborations and partnerships to enhance our work in this area,” he said.
Relocations and restructures
The HQ relocation marks Novartis’ second of the year, after announcing plans to move the global headquarters of its eye care division, Alcon, from the US to Switzerland. Novartis plans to spin-off Alcon to become a standalone company.
In other restructuring news, earlier this year Novartis divested its US generic oral solids and dermatology businesses to Aurobindo Pharma US, sold its stake of a joint healthcare venture to partner GlaxoSmithKline, and its injectable medicines site and development centre in Boucherville, Canada, to Avara Pharmaceutical Services. In July, Novartis discontinued its antibiotics R&D programmes.
