New logo: Actavis

Watson Pharmaceuticals, an American maker of generic pharmaceuticals, recently bought its European competitor Actavis. The deal that was finished at the end of October, creating the world's third largest generic pharmaceutical company. The new company takes the name of the latter, and a new corporate identity was unveiled on October 31.

The new corporate identity was developed by Lippincott. The new logo combines a W from the old name with an A from the new company. A press release says is "speaks to the Company's fast-evolving business, as well as its dynamic culture".

One stated reason for shedding the Watson name was that the company can't register it globally, as it is a common surname.
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New logo: Nicox

Nicox is a French pharmaceutical company, primarily working with medical explitation of nitric oxide, hence the name. This week, on October 22, it unveiled a new viusal identity as it also announced a new product called AdenoPlus, a test for acute conjunctivitis. The new logo "represents [Nicox's] new positioning as an international late-stage development and commercial ophthalmic group".
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New logo: Sanofi

Last Friday, May 6, the shareholders of the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Aventis approved a decision to shorten the company name to Sanofi. At the same time the company presented and launched a new logo.

Sanofi-Aventis was created in 2004 when Sanofi-Synthelabo bought Aventis. Both preceeding companies were created through mergers in 1999, so this is the first non-merger identity for the company in a while. Sanofi-Synthelabo was created in Elf's Sanofi and L'Oréal's Synthélabo, while Aventis was formed from the German Hoechst and the French Rhône-Poulenc. The shortened name with its consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel structure is easier to pronounce in many different languages.

The new logo includes a new sybmol, called the "Bird of Hope", symbolizing the hope the company's products brings to its costumers. The symbol is made up of three shapes which form a stylized bird. The colours used are blue for water, green for earth, ochre for fire and white for air. The symbol has several meanings, including representing the three principles that sum up Sanofi's strategy.

Previous logo.

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