Upon celebrating its jubilees, with funds in the amount of EUR 75,000, Novartis provided support for new research projects of Slovene universities, the University of Maribor being among them.

The keynote speaker at the event taking place in the Herman Potočnik Noordung Center of Space Technologies in Vitanje was the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, who pointed out: “What you have today, did not emerge overnight. Your company is so old that it was once called the ‘drug factory’. And at the same time so young that we need to invent new expressions to name it today. All this time, from the beginnings of the Lek factory and until today, when you play at the world championship, you are taking care of the environment in which you were created and in which you operate.”

At the event upon the 75th anniversary of Lek, EUR 75,000 were dedicated to the University of Ljubljana, University of Maribor and University of Primorska for the development and implementation of new research projects that will be developed jointly by cooperation of interdisciplinary teams of Novartis experts as well as scientists and researchers of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Maribor and the Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies of the University of Primorska. Open innovation of mixed research groups is often the practice of Novartis in Slovenia and breakthrough solutions regarding the cooperation between academia and the economic sphere are often awarded the highest recognitions on national level.

“In Novartis in Slovenia, we are proud of the strong connection with Slovene scientific and academic institutions and our achievements are the result of cooperation in Slovene science. We are aware that it is not possible to possess all specialist knowledge within society, however, the key to breakthrough innovations is precisely in the connection with external experts. That is the only way we can most effectively fulfil our mission of co-creating medicine for improving and extending lives of people around the world. Funds that we have provided for Slovene public universities reflect our wish for a successful and fruitful cooperation with the Slovene academic community also in the future. The flow of knowledge and scientific findings between academia, the research community and economy goes mainly through people and I believe that history is being written when the greatest scientific minds in a certain field come together pursuing a common objective” said Robert Ljoljo, Chairman of the Board in Lek and President of Novartis in Slovenia.

Upon its 25th anniversary, Novartis in Slovenia also dedicated EUR 25,000 for cancer prevention and improving health of cancer patients. The funds will be partly dedicated to the Association of Slovenian Societies for Fight Against Cancer* for the purchase of a modern digital video colposcope for identifying precancerous changes of the cervix for the General Hospital in Slovenj Gradec. This will contribute to the improvement of the health of women in the Carinthian and neighbouring regions. Part of these funds is dedicated to the improvement of healthcare options for cancer patients from all over Slovenia who come to Ljubljana for treatment.