High on Drugs

The birth of Novartis in Basel - with midwives J P Morgan and Morgan Stanley in close attendance - brought whoops of joy from the shareholders of Sandoz and Ciba. No surprise there. Those shareholders can see dramatic cost savings in the offing and have no qualms about the loss of jobs in the pretty northern Swiss town of Basel. A town divided to date solely by the Rhine, there may now be social divisions as well. But no matter. If the pattern at Novartis is anything like the first six post-merger