Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz have merged to form Novartis. The following article is from Christchurch Anti-Vivisection Campaign's, A.V. News, #1, July 1996, front page.

Doctors who claimed they were on the verge of being able to transplant pigs' hearts into humans have been accused of raising false expectations to boost their company's chances of a successful stockmarket flotation.  Specialists point out that organ rejection still causes the failure of many human-to-human transplants, Professor Sir Roy Calne, British transplant expert said "If we are still having trouble with organs from our own species, it seems wishful thinking to suggest we will be successfully using pig organs next year".  Imutran, backed by Swiss drug company, Sandoz, has bred transgenic pigs with human genetic material and keeps 300 such pigs at a secret location.  Michael Thick, a leading transplant surgeon at Freeman Hospital, Newcastle said of the claims "The interests here are not entirely scientific.  They want to float the company publicly.". (The Sunday Times, London, 17 September 1995, page 10.)

Doctors and Lawyers for Responsible Medicine (Formerly Doctors in Britain Against Animal Experiments) oppose the use of animal organs in humans because of the risk of transmitting viruses with potentially devastating consequences (The Times, London, 1 May 1996).  In a letter to the editor Dr Andre Menache, President of the group, wrote "It is scientifically impossible to prove the safety of such a procedure, making human beings the ultimate guinea-pigs of what we regard as a reckless science" (The Times, 7 May 1996)