Since the creation of the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable Development, in 1979, it has been in the thick of efforts to tackle the Third World's health- and poverty-related problems. Besides contributing to the fight against tuberculosis and malaria, for instance, the organization has pioneered novel techniques to teach people suffering from leprosy that it is a treatable disease, introduced new programs to support the orphans of AIDS, and launched a potentially groundbreaking experiment to bring health insurance to Africa's rural poor.

Organizations such as the foundation—essentially, long-term partnerships uniting business, governments, and nonprofit groups—also stand at the forefront of the emerging debate on the wider role of business in society. In this respect the foundation sees itself as a bridge between its Swiss pharmaceutical parent and the wider world, acting (according to its latest annual report) as "a development-policy consultant inside and outside the company."

The high repute of the foundation owes much to its current president, Klaus M. Leisinger, who began his career as an intern at Novartis's predecessor company, Ciba-Geigy, in the early 1970s. There he produced guidelines for the operations of an international company doing business in Africa. These later became the basis of the group's corporate...