Why Novartis is changing the name of its research labs

Swiss drugmaker Novartis’ research and development hub has a new name — and a new guiding strategy.

The hub, which is headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., and for years has been known as Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, or NIBR, will soon simply be known as Novartis Biomedical Research.

But that’s not the only thing that’s changing, Fiona Marshall, the hub’s president, told a virtual audience Thursday during the 2023 STAT Future Summit. The new name reflects a larger shift by the pharma giant to retool its research strategy — from one driven by the pure pursuit of scientific discovery to a tighter focus on projects likely to yield commercially successful drugs.

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