The key operations of Ciba Vision will move by next...

The key operations of Ciba Vision will move by next October from its head office from Atlanta, Georgia, to Alcon's U.S. office in Fort Worth, Texas, following their recent merger into a new Alcon Vision Care unit controlled by Novartis. Ciba will continue to operate in the Atlanta region in the areas of R&D, IT and other activities. Noting that his company had taken over some of Ciba Vision's sales reps in the U.S., an executive of CooperVision told analysts that could be disruptive in the short term. He speculated that the merger may end up shifting the group's focus from vision correction to pharmaceutical solutions. Novartis has budgeted R&D spending of $4 billion on eye care over the next five years.