title: 4X

text: Early 4X games were influenced by board games and text-based computer games from the 1970s. "Cosmic Balance II", "Andromeda Conquest" and "Reach for the Stars" were published in 1983, and are now seen retrospectively as 4X games. Although "Andromeda Conquest" was only a simple game of empire expansion, "Reach for the Stars" introduced the relationship between economic growth, technological progress, and conquest. Trade Wars, first released in 1984, though primarily regarded as the first multiplayer space trader, included space exploration, resource management, empire building, expansion and conquest. It has been cited by the author of VGA Planets as an important influence on VGA Planets 4.


title: 4X

text: In 1991, Sid Meier released "Civilization" and popularized the level of detail that has become common in the genre. "Sid Meier's Civilization" was influenced by board games such as "Risk" and the Avalon Hill board game also called "Civilization". A notable similarity between the "Civilization" computer game and board game is the importance of diplomacy and technological advancement. Sid Meier's "Civilization" was also influenced by personal computer games such as the city management game "SimCity" and the wargame "Empire". "Civilization" became widely successful and influenced many 4X games to come; "Computer Gaming World" compared its importance to computer gaming to that of the wheel. "Armada 2525" was also released in 1991 and was cited by the "Chicago Tribune" as the best space game of the year. A sequel, "Armada 2526" was released in 2009.


title: 4X

text: In 1991, two highly influential space games were released. "VGA Planets" was released for the PC, while "Spaceward Ho!" was released on the Macintosh. Although 4X space games were ultimately more influenced by the complexity of "VGA Planets", "Spaceward Ho!" earned praise for its relatively simple yet challenging game design. "Spaceward Ho!" is notable for its similarity to the 1993 game "Master of Orion", with its simple yet deep gameplay. "Master of Orion" also drew upon earlier 4X games such as "Reach for the Stars", and is considered a classic game that sets a new standard for the genre. In a preview of "Master of Orion", Emrich coined the term "XXXX" to describe the emerging genre. Eventually, the "4X" label was adopted by the game industry, and is now applied to several earlier game releases.


title: 4X

text: Following the success of "Civilization" and "Master of Orion", other developers began releasing their own 4X games. In 1994, Stardock launched its first version of the "Galactic Civilizations" series for OS/2, and the long-standing "Space Empires" series began as shareware. "Ascendancy" and "Stars!" were released in 1995, and both continued the genre's emphasis on strategic depth and empire management. Meanwhile, the "Civilization" and "Master of Orion" franchises expanded their market with versions for the Macintosh. Sid Meier's team also produced "Colonization" in 1994 and "Civilization II" in 1996, while Simtex released "Master of Orion" in 1993, "Master of Magic" in 1994 and "" in 1996.


title: 4X

text: By the late 1990s, real-time strategy games began outselling turn-based games. As they surged in popularity, major 4X developers fell into difficulties. Sid Meier's Firaxis Games released "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri" in 1999 to critical acclaim, but the game fell short of commercial expectations. "Civilization III" encountered development problems followed by a rushed release in 2001. Despite the excitement over "Master of Orion III", its release in 2003 was met with criticism for its lack of player control, poor interface, and weak AI. Game publishers eventually became risk-averse to financing the development of 4X games.


title: 4X

text: Eventually real-time 4X games were released, such as "Imperium Galactica" in 1997, "Starships Unlimited" in 2001, and "Sword of the Stars" in 2006, featuring a combination of turn-based strategy and real-time tactical combat. The blend of 4X and real-time strategy gameplay led Ironclad Games to market their 2008 release "Sins of a Solar Empire" as a "RT4X" game. This combination of features earned the game a mention as one of the top games from 2008, including GameSpot's award for best strategy game, and IGN's award for best PC game. The "Total War" series, debuting in 2000 with "", combines a turn-based campaign map and real-time tactical battles.


title: 4X

text: In 2003, Stardock released a remake of "Galactic Civilizations", which was praised by reviewers who saw the game as a replacement for the "Master of Orion" series. "Civilization IV" was released at the end of 2005 and was considered the PC game of the year according to several reviewers, including GameSpot and GameSpy. It is now considered one of the greatest computer games in history, having been ranked the second-best PC game of all time by IGN. By 2008, the "Civilization" series had sold over eight million copies, followed the release of "Civilization Revolution" for game consoles soon after, "Civilization V" in 2010 and "Civilization VI" in 2016. Meanwhile, Stardock released "", which was considered the sixth-best PC game of 2006 by GameSpy. Additionally, French developer Amplitude Studios released both "Endless Space" and "Endless Legend". These successes have led Stardock's Brad Wardell to assert that 4X games have excellent growth potential, particularly among less hardcore players. Paradox Interactive specializes in grand strategy games, a genre that often overlaps with 4X, including the "Europa Universalis" series, the "Crusader Kings" series, and "Stellaris". Grand strategy games differ in being "asymmetrical", meaning that players are more bound to a specific setup and not among equally free factions in exploring and progressing the game and an open world. Amplitude Studios released "Endless Space 2" in 2017, met with mixed to positive reviews.


title: 4X

text: The 4X genre has also been extended by gamers who have supported free software releases such as "Freeciv", "FreeCol", "Freeorion", "Golden Age of Civilizations", and "C-evo".


title: 4X

text: Cross-fertilization between board games and video games continued. For example, some aspects of "Master of Orion III" were drawn from the first edition of the board game "Twilight Imperium". Even "Sins of a Solar Empire" was inspired by the idea of adapting the board game "Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century" into a real-time video game. Going in the opposite direction, in 2002 Eagle Games made a board game adaptation of "Sid Meier's Civilization," entitled simply "Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame", significantly different from the board game that had inspired the computer game in the first place. Another remake based on that series, under a very similar title, "Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game", was released in 2010 by Fantasy Flight Games, followed by "" in 2017.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and


title: Novartis

text: Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research). It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis manufactures the drugs clozapine (Clozaril), diclofenac (Voltaren; sold to GlaxoSmithKline in 2015 deal), carbamazepine (Tegretol), valsartan (Diovan), imatinib mesylate (Gleevec/Glivec), cyclosporine (Neoral/Sandimmune), letrozole (Femara), methylphenidate (Ritalin; production ceased 2020), terbinafine (Lamisil), deferasirox (Exjade), and others.


title: Novartis

text: In March 1996, the companies Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz merged to form Novartis; the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both companies formed Novartis as an independent entity. Other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were sold, or, like Ciba Specialty Chemicals, spun off as independent companies. The Sandoz brand disappeared for three years, but was revived in 2003 when Novartis consolidated its generic drugs businesses into a single subsidiary and named it Sandoz. Novartis divested its agrochemical and genetically modified crops business in 2000 with the spinout of Syngenta in partnership with AstraZeneca, which also divested its agrochemical business.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis is a full member of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA).


title: Novartis

text: Novartis AG is a publicly traded Swiss holding company that operates through the Novartis Group. Novartis AG owns, directly or indirectly, all companies worldwide that operate as subsidiaries of the Novartis Group.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis's businesses are divided into three operating divisions: Innovative Medicines, Sandoz (generics) and Alcon (eyecare). In April 2019, Novartis spun off Alcon into a separate company. In August 2022, Novartis announced plans to spin off Sandoz as part of restructuring. The Innovative Medicines division comprises two business units: Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Novartis Oncology. Novartis operates directly through subsidiaries, each of which fall under one of the divisions, and that Novartis categorizes as fulfilling one or more of the following functions: Holding/Finance, Sales, Production, and Research


title: Novartis

text: Novartis AG also held 33.3 percent of the shares of Roche until 2022, however it did not exercise control over Roche. Novartis also has two significant license agreements with Genentech, a Roche subsidiary. One agreement is for Lucentis; the other is for Xolair.


title: Novartis

text: In 2014, Novartis established a center in Hyderabad, India, in order to offshore several of its R&D, clinical development, medical writing and administrative functions. The center supports the drug major's operations in the pharmaceuticals (Novartis), eye care (Alcon) and generic drugs segments (Sandoz).


title: Novartis

text: In 2018, Novartis ranked second on the Access to Medicine Index, which "ranks companies on how readily they make their products available to the world's poor."


title: Novartis

text: For the fiscal year 2020, Novartis reported earnings of US$8.072 billion, with an annual revenue of US$49.898 billion, an increase of 2.51 percent over the previous fiscal cycle. Novartis shares traded at over $84.38 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at $190.3B as of September 16, 2020.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis was created in March 1996 from the merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz Laboratories, both Swiss companies.


title: Novartis

text: Ciba-Geigy was formed in 1970 by the merger of J. R. Geigy Ltd (founded in Basel in 1857) and CIBA (founded in Basel in 1859).


title: Novartis

text: Ciba began in 1859, when Alexander Clavel (1805–1873) took up the production of fuchsine in his factory for silk-dyeing works in Basel. By 1873, he sold his dye factory to the company Bindschedler and Busch. In 1884, Bindschedler and Busch was transformed into a joint-stock company named "Gesellschaft für Chemische Industrie Basel" (Company for Chemical Industry Basel). The acronym, CIBA, was adopted as the company's name in 1945.


title: Novartis

text: The foundation for Geigy was established in 1857, when Johann Rudolf Geigy-Merian (1830–1917) and Johann Muller-Pack acquired a site in Basel, where they built a dyewood mill and a dye extraction plant. Two years later, they began the production of synthetic fuchsine. In 1901, they formed the public limited company Geigy, and the name of the company was changed to J. R. Geigy Ltd in 1914.


title: Novartis

text: In the mid-1990s, state and federal health and environmental agencies identified an increased incidence of childhood cancers in Toms River, New Jersey, from the 1970–1995 period. Multiple investigations by state and federal environmental and health agencies indicated that the likely source of the increased cancer risk was contamination from Toms River Chemical Plant (then operated by Ciba-Geigy), which had been in operation since 1952. The area was designated a United States Environmental Protection Agency Superfund site in 1983 after an underground plume of toxic chemicals was identified. The following year, a discharge pipe was shut down after a sinkhole at the corner of Bay Avenue and Vaughn Avenue revealed that it had been leaking. The plant ceased operation in 1996. A follow-up study from the 1996–2000 period indicated that while there were more cancer cases than expected, rates had significantly fallen and the difference was statistically insignificant compared to normal statewide cancer rates. Since 1996, the Toms River water system has been subject to the most stringent water testing in New Jersey and is considered safe for consumption. Dan Fagin's "Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation", the 2014 Pulitzer Prize winning book, examined the issue of industrial pollution at the site in detail.


title: Novartis

text: Sandoz is the generic drugs division of Novartis. Before the 1996 merger with Ciba-Geigy to form Novartis, Sandoz Pharmaceuticals (Sandoz AG) was a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland (as was Ciba-Geigy), and was best known for developing drugs such as Sandimmune for organ transplantation, the antipsychotic Clozaril, Mellaril Tablets and Serentil Tablets for treating psychiatric disorders, and Cafergot Tablets and Torecan Suppositories for treating migraine headaches.


title: Novartis

text: The "Chemiefirma Kern und Sandoz" ("Kern and Sandoz Chemistry Firm") was founded in 1886 by Alfred Kern (1850–1893) and Edouard Sandoz (1853–1928). The first dyes manufactured by them were alizarinblue and auramine. After Kern's death, the partnership became the corporation "Chemische Fabrik vormals Sandoz" in 1895. The company began producing the fever-reducing drug antipyrin in the same year. In 1899, the company began producing the sugar substitute saccharin. Further pharmaceutical research began in 1917 under Arthur Stoll (1887–1971), who is the founder of Sandoz's pharmaceutical department in 1917. In 1918, Arthur Stoll isolated ergotamine from ergot; the substance was eventually used to treat migraine and headaches and was introduced under the trade name Gynergen in 1921.


title: Novartis

text: Between the World Wars, Gynergen (1921) and Calcium-Sandoz (1929) were brought to market. Sandoz also produced chemicals for textiles, paper, and leather, beginning in 1929. In 1939, the company began producing agricultural chemicals.


title: Novartis

text: The psychedelic effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) were discovered at the Sandoz laboratories in 1943 by Arthur Stoll and Albert Hofmann. Sandoz began clinical trials and marketed the substance, from 1947 through the mid-1960s, under the name "Delysid" as a psychiatric drug, thought useful for treating a wide variety of mental ailments, ranging from alcoholism to sexual deviancy. Sandoz suggested in its marketing literature that psychiatrists take LSD themselves, to gain a better subjective understanding of the schizophrenic experience, and many did exactly that and so did other scientific researchers. The Sandoz product received mass publicity as early as 1954, in a Time Magazine feature. Research on LSD peaked in the 1950s and early 1960s. The CIA purchased quantities of LSD from Sandoz for use in its illegal human experimentation program known as MKUltra. Sandoz withdrew the drug from the market in 1965. The drug became a cultural novelty of the 1960s after psychologist Timothy Leary at Harvard University began to promote its use for recreational and spiritual experiences among the general public.


title: Novartis

text: Sandoz opened its first foreign offices in 1964. In 1967, Sandoz merged with Wander AG (known for Ovomaltine and Isostar). Sandoz acquired the companies Delmark, Wasabröd (a Swedish manufacturer of crisp bread), and Gerber Products Company (a baby food company). On 1 November 1986, a fire broke out in a production plant storage room, which led to the Sandoz chemical spill and a large amount of pesticide being released into the upper Rhine river. This exposure killed many fish and other aquatic life. In 1995, Sandoz spun off its specialty chemicals business to form Clariant. In 1997, Clariant merged with the specialty chemicals business that was spun off from Hoechst AG in Germany.


title: Novartis

text: In 1996 Ciba-Geigy merged with Sandoz, with the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both staying together to form Novartis. Other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were spun off as independent companies. notably Ciba Specialty Chemicals. Sandoz's Master Builders Technologies, a producer of chemicals for the construction industry, was sold off to SKW Trostberg A.G., a subsidiary of the German energy company VIAG, while its North American corn herbicide business became part of the German chemical maker BASF.


title: Novartis

text: In 1998, the company entered into a biotechnology licensing agreement with the University of California at Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology. Critics of the agreement expressed concern over prospects that the agreement would diminish academic objectivity, or lead to the commercialization of genetically modified plants. The agreement expired in 2003.


title: Novartis

text: In 2000, Novartis and AstraZeneca combined their agrobusiness divisions to create a new company, Syngenta.


title: Novartis

text: In 2003, Novartis organized all its generics businesses into one division, and merged some of its subsidiaries into one company, reusing the predecessor brand name of Sandoz.


title: Novartis

text: In 2005, Novartis expanded its subsidiary Sandoz significantly through the US$8.29 billion acquisition of Hexal, one of Germany's leading generic drug companies, and Eon Labs, a fast-growing United States generic pharmaceutical company.


title: Novartis

text: In 2006, Novartis acquired the California-based Chiron Corporation. Chiron had been divided into three units: Chiron Vaccines, Chiron Blood Testing, and Chiron BioPharmaceuticals. The biopharmaceutical unit was integrated into Novartis Pharmaceuticals, while the vaccines and blood testing units were made into a new Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics division. Also in 2006, Sandoz became the first company to have a biosimilar drug approved in Europe with its recombinant human growth hormone drug.


title: Novartis

text: In 2007, Novartis sold the Gerber Products Company to Nestlé as part of its continuing effort to shed old Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy businesses and focus on healthcare.


title: Novartis

text: In 2009, Novartis reached an agreement to acquire an 85 percent stake in the Chinese vaccines company Zhejiang Tianyuan Bio-Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as part of a strategic initiative to build a vaccines industry leader in this country and expand the group's limited presence in this fast-growing market segment. This proposed acquisition will require government and regulatory approvals in China.


title: Novartis

text: In 2010, Novartis offered to pay US$39.3 billion to fully acquire Alcon, the world's largest eye-care company, including a majority stake held by Nestlé. Novartis had bought 25 percent of Alcon in 2008. Novartis created a new division and called it Alcon, under which it placed its CIBA VISION subsidiary and Novartis Ophthalmics, which became the second-largest division of Novartis. The total cost for Alcon amounted to $60 billion.


title: Novartis

text: In 2011, Novartis acquired the medical laboratory diagnostics company Genoptix to "serve as a strong foundation for our (Novartis') individualized treatment programs".


title: Novartis

text: In 2012, the Company cut ~2000 positions in the United States, primarily in sales, in response to anticipated revenue downturns from the hypertension drug Diovan, which was losing patent protection, and the realization that the anticipated successor to Diovan, Rasilez, was failing in clinical trials. The 2012 personnel reductions follow ~2000 cut positions in Switzerland and the United States in 2011, ~1400 cut positions in the United States in 2010, and a reduction of "thousands" and several site closures in previous years. Also in 2012, Novartis became the biggest manufacturer of generic skin care medicine, after agreeing to buy Fougera Pharmaceuticals for $1.525 billion in cash.


title: Novartis

text: In 2013, the Indian Supreme Court issued a decision rejecting Novartis' patent application in India on the final form of Gleevec, Novartis's cancer drug; the case caused great controversy. In 2013, Novartis was sued again by the US government, this time for allegedly bribing doctors for a decade so that their patients are steered towards the company's drugs.


title: Novartis

text: In January 2014, Novartis announced plans to cut 500 jobs from its pharmaceuticals division. In February 2014, Novartis announced that it acquired CoStim Pharmaceuticals.


title: Novartis

text: In May 2014, Novartis purchased the rights to market Ophthotech's Fovista (an anti-PDGF aptamer, also being investigated for use in combination with anti-VEGF treatments) outside the U.S. for up to $1 billion. Novartis acquired exclusive rights to market the eye drug outside of the states while retaining U.S. marketing rights. The company agreed to pay Ophthotech $200 million upfront, and $130 million in milestone payments relating to Phase III trials. Ophthotech is also eligible to receive up to $300 million dependent upon future marketing approval milestones outside of America and up to $400 million relating to sales milestones. In September 2014, Ophthotech received its first $50 million phase III trial milestone payment from Novartis. In April 2014, Novartis announced that it would acquire GlaxoSmithKline's cancer drug business for $16 billion as well as selling its vaccines business to GlaxoSmithKline for $7.1 billion. In August 2014 "Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News" reported that Novartis had acquired a 15 percent stake in Gamida Cell for $35 million, with the option to purchase the whole company for approximately $165 million. In October 2014, Novartis announced its intention to sell its influenza vaccine business (inclusive of its development pipeline), subject to regulatory approval, to CSL for $275 million.


title: Novartis

text: In March 2015, the company announced BioPharma had completed its acquisition of two Phase III cancer-drug candidates; the MEK inhibitor binimetinib (MEK 162) and the BRAF inhibitor encorafenib (LGX818), for $85 million. In addition, the company sold its RNAi portfolio to Arrowhead Research for $10 million and $25 million in stock. In June, the company announced it would acquire Spinifex Pharmaceuticals for more than $200 million. In August, the company acquired the remaining rights to the CD20 monoclonal antibody Ofatumumab from GlaxoSmithKline for up to $1 billion. In October the company acquired Admune Therapeutics for an undisclosed sum, as well as licensing PBF-509, an adenosine A2A receptor antagonist which is in Phase I clinical trials for non-small cell lung cancer, from Palobiofarma.


title: Novartis

text: In November 2016, the company announced it would acquire Selexys Pharmaceuticals for $665 million. In December, the company acquired Encore Vision, gaining the company's principle compound, EV06, is a first-in-class topical therapy for presbyopia. In December Novartis acquired Ziarco Group Limited, bolstering its presence in eczema treatments.


title: Novartis

text: In late October 2017, "Reuters" announced that Novartis would acquire Advanced Accelerator Applications for $3.9 billion, paying $41 per ordinary share and $82 per American depositary share representing a 47 percent premium.


title: Novartis

text: In March 2018, GlaxoSmithKline announced that it has reached an agreement with Novartis to acquire Novartis' 36.5 percent stake in their Consumer Healthcare Joint Venture for $13 billion (£9.2 billion). In April of the same year, the business utilised some of the proceeds from the aforementioned GlaxoSmithKline deal to acquire Avexis for $218 per share or $8.7 billion in total, gaining the lead compound AVXS-101 used to treat spinal muscular atrophy. In August 2018, Novartis signed a deal with Laekna-a Shanghai-based pharmaceutical company for its two clinical-stage cancer drugs. Novartis gave Laekna the exclusive international rights for the drugs that are oral pan-Akt kinase inhibitors namely; afuresertib (ASB138) and uprosertib (UPB795). In mid-October, the company announced it would acquire Endocyte Inc for $2.1 billion ($24 per share) merging it with a newly created subsidiary. Endocyte will bolster Novartis' offering in its radiopharmaceuticals business, with Endocyte's first in class candidate Lu-PSMA-617 being targeted against metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. In late December the company announced it would acquire France-based contract manufacturer, CellforCure from LFB, boosting its capacity to produce cell and gene therapies.


title: Novartis

text: On April 9, 2019, Novartis announced that it had completed the spin-off of Alcon as a separate commercial entity. Alcon was listed on the SIX exchange in Switzerland and NYSE exchange in the U.S. Novartis announced during late 2019 a five-year artificial intelligence "alliance" with Microsoft. The companies aim to create applications for "Microsoft's AI capabilities", in turn improving the other's drug development processes. Microsoft seeks to "test AI products it is already working on in 'real-life' situations". The deal will pursue solutions for "organizing and using" data generated from Novartis' laboratory experiments, clinical trials, and manufacturing plants. It will also look at improving manufacturing of Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR T cells). Finally, the deal "will also apply AI to generative chemistry to enhance drug design". In November 2019, Sandoz announced it would acquire the Japanese business of Aspen Global inc for €300 million (around $330 million), boosting the business's presence in Asia. In late November 2019, the business announced it would acquire The Medicines Company for ($85 per share) in order to acquire amongst other assets, the cholesterol lowering therapy; inclisiran.


title: Novartis

text: In September 2020, Novartis was imposed a fine of €385 million by the French competition authority on accusations of abusive practices to preserve sales of Lucentis over a cheaper drug. Also in September, BioNTech has leased a large production facility from Novartis to follow all advance demands for its coronavirus vaccine in Europe and sell it to China.


title: Novartis

text: In October Novartis announced it would acquire Vedere Bio for $280 million boosting the businesses cell and gene therapy offerings.


title: Novartis

text: In October 2020, as part of a joint venture to develop therapeutic drugs to combat COVID-19, Novartis bought 6% of all shares outstanding in Swiss DARPin research company Molecular Partners AG at CHF 23 per share.


title: Novartis

text: In December 2020, Novartis announced it would acquire Cadent Therapeutics for up to $770 million, gaining full rights to CAD-9303 (a NMDAr positive allosteric modulator), MIJ-821 (a NMDAr negative allosteric modulator) and CAD-1883 a clinical-stage SK channel positive allosteric modulator.


title: Novartis

text: In September 2021, the company announced it would acquire gene-therapy business, Arctos Medical, broadening its optogenetics range. In December, Novartis announced it would purchase Gyroscope Therapeutics from health care investment company, Syncona Ltd, for up to $1.5 billion.


title: Novartis

text: In February 2022, New York City-based biotechnology company Cambrian Biopharma announced it had licensed rights to mTOR inhibitor programs from Novartis. As part of the deal, Cambrian was setting up a subsidiary called Tornado Therapeutics.


title: Novartis

text: In August 2022, the company announced its plan to spin off Sandoz generic drugs unit to form a publicly traded business as part of a restructuring. With the unit having generated US$9.69billion in 2021, the spin-off would create the biggest generic drugs company in Europe by sales.


title: Novartis

text: The company's global research operations, called "Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR)" have their global headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Two research institutes reside within NIBR that focus on diseases in the developing world: Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases, which works on tuberculosis, dengue, and malaria, and Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health, which works on salmonella typhi (typhoid fever) and shigella.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis is also involved in publicly funded collaborative research projects, with other industrial and academic partners. One example in the area of non-clinical safety assessment is the InnoMed PredTox project. The company is expanding its activities in joint research projects within the framework of the Innovative Medicines Initiative of EFPIA and the European Commission.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis is working with Science 37 in order to allow video based telemedicine visits instead of physical traveling to clinics for patients. It is planning for ten clinical trials over three years using mobile technology to help free patients from burdensome hospital trips.


title: Novartis

text: In January 2009, the United States Department of Health and Human Services awarded Novartis a $486 million contract for construction of the first US plant to produce cell-based influenza vaccine, to be located in Holly Springs, North Carolina. The stated goal of this program is the capability of producing 150,000,000 doses of pandemic vaccine within six months of declaring a flu pandemic.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis fought a seven-year, controversial battle to patent Gleevec in India, and took the case all the way to the Indian Supreme Court, where the patent application was finally rejected. The patent application at the center of the case was filed by Novartis in India in 1998, after India had agreed to enter the World Trade Organization and to abide by worldwide intellectual property standards under the TRIPS agreement. As part of this agreement, India made changes to its patent law; the biggest of which was that prior to these changes, patents on products were not allowed, afterwards they were, albeit with restrictions. These changes came into effect in 2005, so Novartis' patent application waited in a "mailbox" with others until then, under procedures that India instituted to manage the transition. India also passed certain amendments to its patent law in 2005, just before the laws came into effect, which played a key role in the rejection of the patent application.


title: Novartis

text: The patent application claimed the final form of Gleevec (the beta crystalline form of imatinib mesylate). In 1993 before India allowed patents on products, Novartis had patented imatinib, with salts vaguely specified, in many countries but could not patent it in India. The key differences between the two patent applications were that the 1998 patent application specified the counterion (Gleevec is a specific salt - imatinib mesylate) while the 1993 patent application did not claim any specific salts nor did it mention mesylate, and the 1998 patent application specified the solid form of Gleevec - the way the individual molecules are packed together into a solid when the drug itself is manufactured (this is separate from processes by which the drug itself is formulated into pills or capsules) - while the 1993 patent application did not. The solid form of imatinib mesylate in Gleevec is beta crystalline.


title: Novartis

text: As provided under the TRIPS agreement, Novartis applied for Exclusive Marketing Rights (EMR) for Gleevec from the Indian Patent Office and the EMR was granted in November 2003. Novartis made use of the EMR to obtain orders against some generic manufacturers who had already launched Gleevec in India. Novartis set the price of Gleevec at US$2666 per patient per month; generic companies were selling their versions at US$177 to 266 per patient per month. Novartis also initiated a program to assist patients who could not afford its version of the drug, concurrent with its product launch.


title: Novartis

text: When examination of Novartis' patent application began in 2005, it came under immediate attack from oppositions initiated by generic companies that were already selling Gleevec in India and by advocacy groups. The application was rejected by the patent office and by an appeal board. The key basis for the rejection was the part of Indian patent law that was created by amendment in 2005, describing the patentability of new uses for known drugs and modifications of known drugs. That section, Paragraph 3d, specified that such inventions are patentable only if "they differ significantly in properties with regard to efficacy." At one point, Novartis went to court to try to invalidate Paragraph 3d; it argued that the provision was unconstitutionally vague and that it violated TRIPS. Novartis lost that case and did not appeal. Novartis did appeal the rejection by the patent office to India's Supreme Court, which took the case.


title: Novartis

text: The Supreme Court case hinged on the interpretation of Paragraph 3d. The Supreme Court decided that the substance that Novartis sought to patent was indeed a modification of a known drug (the raw form of imatinib, which was publicly disclosed in the 1993 patent application and in scientific articles), that Novartis did not present evidence of a difference in therapeutic efficacy between the final form of Gleevec and the raw form of imatinib, and that therefore the patent application was properly rejected by the patent office and lower courts.


title: Novartis

text: Although the court ruled narrowly, and took care to note that the subject application was filed during a time of transition in Indian patent law, the decision generated widespread global news coverage and reignited debates on balancing public good with monopolistic pricing, innovation with affordability etc.


title: Novartis

text: Had Novartis won and had its patent issued, it could not have prevented generics companies in India from selling generic Gleevec, but it could have obliged them to pay a reasonable royalty under a grandfather clause included in India's patent law.


title: Novartis

text: In reaction to the decision, Ranjit Shahani, vice-chairman and managing director of Novartis India Ltd was quoted as saying "This ruling is a setback for patients that will hinder medical progress for diseases without effective treatment options." He also said that companies like Novartis would invest less money in research in India as a result of the ruling. Novartis also emphasised that it continues to be committed to good access to its drugs; according to Novartis, by 2013, "95% of patients in India—roughly 16,000 people—receive Glivec free of charge... and it has provided more than $1.7 billion worth of Glivec to Indian patients in its support program since it was started..."


title: Novartis

text: On 17 May 2010, a jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York awarded $3,367,250 in compensatory damages against Novartis, finding that the company had committed sexual discrimination against twelve female sales representatives and entry-level managers since 2002, in matters of pay, promotion, and treatment after learning that the employees were pregnant. Two months later the company settled with the remaining plaintiffs for $152.5 million plus attorney fees.


title: Novartis

text: In September 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a notice to Novartis Pharmaceuticals regarding its advertising of Focalin XR, an ADHD drug, in which the company overstated its efficacy while marketing to the public and medical professionals.


title: Novartis

text: In 2005, federal prosecutors opened an investigation into Novartis' marketing of several drugs: Trileptal, an antiseizure drug; three drugs for heart conditions - Diovan (the company's top-selling product), Exforge, and Tekturna; Sandostatin, a drug to treat a growth hormone disorder; and Zelnorm, a drug for irritable bowel syndrome. In September 2010, Novartis agreed to pay US$422.5 million in criminal and civil claims and to enter into a corporate integrity agreement with the US Office of the Inspector General. According to "The New York Times", "Federal prosecutors accused Novartis of paying illegal kickbacks to health care professionals through speaker programs, advisory boards, entertainment, travel and meals. But aside from pleading guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mislabeling in an agreement that Novartis announced in February, the company denied wrongdoing." In the same New York Times article, Frank Lichtenberg, a Columbia professor who receives pharmaceutical financing for research on innovation in the industry, said off-label prescribing was encouraged by the American Medical Association and paid for by insurers, but off-label marketing was clearly illegal. "So it's not surprising that they would settle because they don't have a legal leg to stand on."


title: Novartis

text: In April 2013, federal prosecutors filed two lawsuits against Novartis under the False Claims Act for off-label marketing and kickbacks; in both suits, prosecutors are seeking treble damages. The first suit "accused Novartis of inducing pharmacies to switch thousands of kidney transplant patients to its immunosuppressant drug Myfortic in exchange for kickbacks disguised as rebates and discounts". In the second, the Justice Department joined a "qui tam", or whistleblower, lawsuit brought by a former sales rep over off-label marketing of three drugs: Lotrel and Valturna (both hypertension drugs), and the diabetes drug, Starlix. Twenty-seven states, the District of Columbia and Chicago and New York also joined.


title: Novartis

text: Outside the US, Novartis markets the drug ranibizumab (trade name Lucentis), which is a monoclonal antibody fragment derived from the same parent mouse antibody as bevacizumab (Avastin). Both Avastin and Lucentis were created by Genentech which is owned by Roche; Roche markets Avastin worldwide, and also markets Lucentis in the US. Lucentis has been approved worldwide as a treatment for wet macular degeneration and other retinal disorders; Avastin is used to treat certain cancers. Because the price of Lucentis is much higher than Avastin, many ophthalmologists began having compounding pharmacies formulate Avastin for administration to the eye and began treating their patients with Avastin. In 2011, four trusts of the National Health Service in the UK issued policies approving use and payment for administering Avastin for macular degeneration, in order to save money, even though Avastin had not been approved for that indication. In April 2012, after failing to persuade the trusts that it was uncertain whether Avastin was as safe and effective as Lucentis, and in order to retain the market for Lucentis, Novartis announced it would sue the trusts. However, in July Novartis offered significant discounts (kept confidential) to the trusts, and the trusts agreed to change their policy, and in November, Novartis dropped the litigation.


title: Novartis

text: In the summer of 2013, two Japanese universities retracted several publications of clinical trials that purported to show that Valsartan (branded as Diovan) had cardiovascular benefits, when it was found that statistical analysis had been manipulated, and that a Novartis employee had participated in the statistical analysis but had not disclosed his relationship with Novartis but only his affiliation with Osaka City University, where he was a lecturer.


title: Novartis

text: In January 2018, Novartis began being investigated by US and Greek authorities for allegedly bribing Greek public officials in the 2006-2015 period, in a scheme which included two former prime ministers, several former health ministers, many high ranking party members of the Nea Dimokratia and PASOK ruling parties, as well as bankers. The manager of Novartis' Greek branch was prohibited from leaving the country. The minister's deputy described the allegations as "the biggest scandal since the creation of the Greek state", which caused "annual state expenditure on medicine to explode". Most of the ministers involved in the scandal have denied the allegations and sought to paint the case as "political targeting" and "fabrication" by the Syriza opposition party. However, the Greek Judicial Council ruled that the scandal was real. Besides bribery that involves artificial increases in the price of several medicines, the case also involves money laundering, with suspicions of "illegal funds of more than four billion euros ($4.2 billion)" were involved.


title: Novartis

text: In June 2020, Novartis reached settlements with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) resolving all Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) investigations into historical conduct by the company and its subsidiaries. As part of the resolutions, Novartis and some of its current and former subsidiaries would pay US$233.9 million to the DOJ and US$112.8 million to the SEC.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis paid $1.2 million to Essential Consultants, an entity owned by Michael Cohen, following the 2017 inauguration of Donald Trump. Cohen was paid monthly, with each payment just under $100,000. Novartis claims it paid Cohen to help it understand and influence the new administration's approach to drug pricing and regulation.


title: Novartis

text: In July 2018, the US Senate committee report "White House Access for Sale" revealed that Novartis Ag's relationship with Cohen was "longer and more detailed". Novartis initially stated that the relationship ceased a month after entering the US$1.2 million contract with Cohen's consulting firm since the consultants were not able to provide the information the pharmaceutical company needed. Later, it became clear, however, that then-CEO Joseph Jimenez and Cohen communicated via email multiple times during 2017, which included ideas to lower drug prices to be discussed with the president. According to the report, several of the ideas appeared later in Trump's drug pricing plan, released in early 2018, in which pharmaceutical companies were protected from reduced revenues.


title: Novartis

text: Having already received approval for Zolgensma in May 2019, on June 28 AveXis (a Novartis company) voluntarily disclosed to the FDA that some data previously submitted to the agency as part of the Biologics License Application (BLA) package was inaccurate. Specifically, the data manipulation related to an "in vivo" murine potency assay used in the early development of the product but the issue the FDA and wider community has taken is that AveXis was aware of the data manipulation as early as 14 March 2019, almost two months before the BLA was approved. To compound the problem in early August it emerged a senior manager sold almost $1 million worth of stock immediately before the FDA probe became public on August 6, but after the company had informed the FDA of the problem. As of September 2019, the FDA was still preparing its response to the scandal.


title: Novartis

text: Novartis has been committed for decades to eliminate Leprosy by providing free, multidrug therapy to all endemic countries since 2000.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: Natasha Gregson Wagner ( Gregson; born September 29, 1970) is an American actress. She is the daughter of film producer Richard Gregson and actress Natalie Wood. She has appeared in films including "Lost Highway" (1997), "Two Girls and a Guy" (1997), "First Love, Last Rites" (1997), "Urban Legend" (1998), "Another Day in Paradise" (1998) and "High Fidelity" (2000).


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: Natasha Gregson was born September 29, 1970 in Los Angeles, to American actress Natalie Wood and British producer Richard Gregson. Her godmother was actress Ruth Gordon. Her parents separated when she was ten months old, and later divorced. Her mother remarried actor Robert Wagner in 1972, and in 1974 they had a daughter, Courtney. Her aunt, with whom she has no contact, is actress and producer Lana Wood. Through her father, she is a cousin of author Jessica Gregson, niece of actor Michael Craig, stepdaughter of journalist Julia Gregson and great-great granddaughter of Reginald Hanson, former Lord Mayor of London.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: On November 29, 1981, Natalie Wood drowned near Santa Catalina Island. After her mother's death, Gregson Wagner and her half-sister were raised in California by Wagner and actress Jill St. John.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: Gregson Wagner attended Crossroads School in Santa Monica. She went on to Emerson College and later transferred to the University of Southern California. She left in 1992 to pursue an acting career.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: Gregson Wagner's first film role was as Lisa in the 1992 crime drama film "Fathers & Sons". She then had a small role in the movie "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". Following that film she starred in several TV movies including "Modern Vampires", "Hefner: Unauthorized", and "The Shaggy Dog". In 1995, she starred with her stepfather Robert Wagner in a "Hart to Hart" TV movie. She starred in the Wes Craven horror film "Mind Ripper". In 1996, she co-starred with Jon Lovitz and Tia Carrere in the comedy "High School High". She played Lou in the 1997 film "Two Girls and a Guy". Gregson Wagner played a small role in the 1998 thriller "Urban Legend". That same year she guest starred in an episode of "Ally McBeal" and co-starred with Vincent Kartheiser, James Woods and Melanie Griffith in Larry Clark's crime drama "Another Day in Paradise". To avoid an NC-17 rating, a rough sex scene with Kartheiser had to be removed from the theatrical version.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: In 2000, Gregson Wagner had roles in "Stranger Than Fiction", and "High Fidelity" opposite John Cusack. In 2001, she was regular cast member in the short-lived prime time soap opera, "Pasadena". In 2003, she played Barbara Richardson in the movie "Wonderland". In 2004, she had a role in the Hallmark movie, "Angel in the Family" playing the part of Beth. In 2005 Gregson Wagner guest-starred on "Cold Case" and "Medium". In 2006, she starred in two episodes of "ER": "Bloodline" and "21 Guns". From 2005 to 2007, she had a recurring role on the TV show "The 4400" as April Skouris, the sister of NTAC agent Diana Skouris. In 2008, she guest starred on "" and "House M.D".


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: From 1990 to 1997, Gregson Wagner dated Josh Evans, son of Ali MacGraw and Robert Evans. She was married to screenwriter D.V. DeVincentis from October 2003 to January 2008.


title: Natasha Gregson Wagner

text: On May 30, 2012, Gregson Wagner and actor Barry Watson had a daughter, Clover Clementyne Watson. The couple married in December 2014.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Matthew Brett Cardona (born May 14, 1985) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Impact Wrestling and the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Zack Ryder from 2005 to 2020.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona debuted in professional wrestling in 2004, teaming with Curt Hawkins on the independent circuit. Both men were signed by WWE the following year, making their main roster debuts in 2007. After the team split in 2009, he made appearances on WWE's "ECW" brand until 2010, following which he was featured sparingly on television. In 2011, he launched a YouTube web series in which he proclaimed himself WWE's "Internet Champion"; this, along with his creative use of social media, helped him establish a substantial cult following. Over the course of his time with WWE, Cardona held the Intercontinental, United States, and Raw Tag Team Championships (the latter with Hawkins on two occasions).


title: Matt Cardona

text: After being released by WWE in April 2020, Cardona has made appearances in major wrestling promotions including All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, and the National Wrestling Alliance, as well as the American independent circuit, most notably in Game Changer Wrestling (GCW). He has since won various championships including the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, Impact Digital Media Championship, and GCW World Championship.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Matthew Brett Cardona was born in Merrick, New York, on May 14, 1985. While in high school, he overcame a form of cancer that had started in his foot and spread to his lungs. He was forced to miss a year of school.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona was trained by Mikey Whipwreck. He debuted with New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) in 2004, using the name Brett Matthews. He began regularly teaming with Brian Myers and the duo of Myers and Matthews went on to defeat the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and Mason Raige by disqualification, for which titles do not change hands. On the next event on June 4, they won a rematch decisively to become the NYWC Tag Team Champions. Later that month, they were attacked by The Dead Presidents (Lo Lincoln and Boog Washington) to set up a feud where they eventually lost their titles against them on August 27. On September 23, they were entered into a three-way match with then champions, but Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Ken Scampi) ended up with the championship. After continuing to win matches, they re-earned a match against Team Tremendous and won the titles for the second time on January 25, 2006. They held the championship until they faced the B.S. Xpress (Tony Burma and Mike Spinelli), who defeated them for the titles on March 26.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona's first WWE appearance was on April 21, 2005, on "SmackDown!", where he took on Matt Morgan. On February 24, 2006, Cardona signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). In Deep South Wrestling (DSW), he was renamed Brett Major while Myers was renamed Brian Major. On October 12, they won the DSW Tag Team Championship from The Untouchables (Deuce Shade and Dice Domino) and held them until the end of November, losing them to Urban Assault (Eric Pérez and Sonny Siaki). After the titles were vacated in the following year, they became two-time champions defeating the new team of Sonny Siaki and Afa Jr (The Samoan Swat Team) and The Blue Bloods (William Regal and Dave Taylor). Later in 2007 they moved to Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, reigning from June 15 to 29.


title: Matt Cardona

text: In March 2015, Devon Nicholson described an incident from 2006 that Bill DeMott was involved with while he was head trainer for the WWE's DSW developmental territory. Nicholson described an incident where Drew Hankinson was completely naked in the ring for a long period of time and gave naked stink faces to Ryder and Melissa Coates while DeMott held jelly donuts over their faces. The wrestlers agreed to do this (with the other talent encouraging them) to get out of regular training for that day. DeMott refuted the notion that it was his idea, stating that the other trainees came up with because they wanted to skip the session.


title: Matt Cardona

text: The team was moved to the main roster in May 2007. They worked on WWE's ECW brand, winning only their first match until they were drafted to SmackDown! in June. On November 9 they won a battle royal to receive a WWE Tag Team Championship match, but didn't win.


title: Matt Cardona

text: At Armageddon, the duo dressed up like Edge and interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match, replacing Edge at several points along the match to help him win the title and thus turning heel for the first time in their WWE career. On December 21, the Major Brothers were revealed as an acquaintance to Edge and his lover, "SmackDown" General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed, with Cardona being renamed Zack Ryder. Occasionally referred to as the Rated-R Entourage by commentators Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, the group allied with Guerrero's nephew, Chavo Guerrero and his enforcer Bam Neely as the group La Familia, which dominated SmackDown's storyline through 2008. Ryder and Hawkins interfered in Edge's match at WrestleMania XXIV against The Undertaker, but Undertaker eventually won the match.


title: Matt Cardona

text: At The Great American Bash on July 20, Curt Hawkins (the former Bryan Major) and Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Championship from John Morrison and the Miz in a fatal four-way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle after Hawkins pinned Jesse. Their victory meant that they were the youngest team to hold the championships. By SummerSlam in August, La Familia had begun to fracture and Ryder, with Hawkins, went back to appearing on their own. On the September 26 airing of "SmackDown", Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles to The Colóns (Carlito and Primo) in their first televised title defense. On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 supplemental draft, separating the team.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Ryder made his return to ECW on May 5, 2009, in a backstage segment with General Manager Tiffany. He now sported short hair, tanned skin, sunglasses, a headband, half-trunks/half-tights, displaying something of an arrogant Long Island guido character and more frequent uses of catchphrases "woo woo woo" and "you know it", that he had used sparingly in the tag team. He lost to Finlay in his first singles match, on the May 7 "Superstars." His first win was on the May 19 "ECW on Sci Fi" over a jobber, in what is now known as the "exploding trunks" match due to the jobber suffering a wardrobe malfunction during the match. On September 15, Ryder won a 10-man battle royal to earn contendership to the ECW Championship but lost to the champion, Christian, the following week. On the November 3 episode of "ECW", Ryder entered a love angle with Rosa Mendes who became his valet. He also feuded with Tommy Dreamer, culminating in a match on December 29 where Ryder won to force Dreamer to leave the company.


title: Matt Cardona

text: When the ECW brand came to an end in February 2010, Ryder and Mendes moved to the Raw brand, making his debut on the February 25 episode of "Superstars", defeating Primo. Ryder made his "Raw" debut on March 1, losing to Montel Vontavious Porter in a Money in the Bank qualifying match. He participated in an untelevised 26-man battle royal at WrestleMania XXVI, being the last person eliminated by the winner Yoshi Tatsu. Mendes was drafted to SmackDown as part of the 2010 Supplemental Draft without Ryder, so Ryder sought a new valet, trying to impress Alicia Fox and Gail Kim while they watched his matches at ringside. During a match with Evan Bourne on the May 10 episode of "Raw", Fox attempted to interfere on Ryder's behalf but was stopped by Kim, leading to Bourne winning the match. The two new pairings faced off in a mixed tag team match on the May 17 episode of "Raw", which Ryder and Fox lost. Ryder had a return win over Bourne on May 27's "Superstars". The next week on "Raw", Fox attacked Ryder with an axe kick after Raw guest host Ashton Kutcher put a bounty on Ryder's head. During the June 7 Viewer's Choice episode of "Raw", Ryder was voted to team with the Miz, defeating John Morrison and R-Truth. The next week, Ryder had a title shot in a fatal four-way match for the United States Championship, but lost. Months later, in August, he was given a WWE Championship match against Sheamus that lasted 11 seconds, which was the second-shortest WWE Championship match in WWE history, in an attempt by Sheamus to circumvent the company's 30 day championship defence policy.


title: Matt Cardona

text: During this time, Ryder became a mentor on the second season of "NXT" to Titus O'Neil. They debuted in a losing effort against John Morrison and Eli Cottonwood; O'Neil was the first rookie eliminated from the second season, on June 29. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Ryder lost against Percy Watson, making him the first mentor of season 2 to lose to a rookie in a singles match. For the remainder of the year and well into 2011, Ryder mostly became used on the non-branded "Superstars" show, occasionally teaming with Primo. Ryder won a 2010 Slammy Award for Most Annoying Catchphrase in December.


title: Matt Cardona

text: As a result of being underutilised on television, Ryder became dissatisfied with his place in WWE and he started a YouTube web series called "Z! True Long Island Story" in February 2011 to promote his character. The web series soon earned Ryder a dedicated fan following: his T-shirts sold out despite not appearing on television and by June, "We Want Ryder" chants were started by the audiences of "Raw" and the Capitol Punishment pay-per-view without Ryder appearing on the show.


title: Matt Cardona

text: The web show's popularity led to Ryder having a rise in status, making more appearances on television. Between April and June, Ryder appeared during "Raw" more often, often in backstage segments with John Cena. On June 6 Ryder had his first match on "Raw" in 2011, losing to Kofi Kingston. On the June 16 episode of "Superstars" in front of his hometown of Long Island his status as a face wrestler was confirmed when he defeated his former tag team partner Primo. On the July 29 episode of "SmackDown", Ryder was appointed as the assistant to SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long, allowing him to make television appearances on both "Raw" and "SmackDown".


title: Matt Cardona

text: On the September 19 episode of "Raw", Ryder won a non-title match against United States Champion Dolph Ziggler with the help of guest star Hugh Jackman who punched Ziggler mid-match. Following his victory over Ziggler, Ryder received a match for the United States Championship the following week and again at Vengeance but both unsuccessful due to interference from Jack Swagger. Ryder main evented "Raw" for the first time on November 7, teaming with John Cena in a losing effort against The Miz and R-Truth. At Survivor Series later in November, with Ryder not wrestling on the card, there were multiple "We Want Ryder" chants, including during the United States Championship match and during The Rock's show-closing speech.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On the December 5 episode of "Raw", Ryder lost a match to Cena and a chance for a WWE Championship shot, but Cena surrendered his WWE Championship match so Ryder could have a second chance, but for the United States Championship. This second chance was a no disqualification match against then World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry, which Ryder won with interference from Cena, thus earning him a United States Championship match at , which Ryder won over Dolph Ziggler to capture his first ever singles title. Shortly after, Ryder left his position as assistant to the SmackDown General Manager due to his championship commitments.


title: Matt Cardona

text: 2012 turned out to be less of a success for Ryder than 2011. "The Baltimore Sun" wrote, "The 2011 calendar year was a dream for Ryder... But 2012 was a nightmare..." Seemingly all the glory of his YouTube hit fizzled... After WrestleMania, he was rarely seen on WWE TV". By March 2012, John Cena noted that Ryder had "fallen off the face of the earth" despite 2011's success. Ryder was eventually ranked by "Pro Wrestling Torch" writer Benjamin Tucker as No. 1 in the "Top 10 Crashing Stars of 2012". Tucker noted that Ryder was once again a jobber despite getting himself over in 2011.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Going into 2012, Ryder started trying to romance Eve as part of a romantic storyline. As Cena's friend, Ryder also became a target of Kane, who was feuding with Cena at the time and attacked Ryder on several occasions. On the January 16 episode of "Raw", Ryder lost his United States Championship to Jack Swagger due to a kayfabe rib injury he suffered at the hands of Kane; Ryder never received an automatic title rematch despite being the former champion. Ryder's injuries mounted after he was chokeslammed through the "Raw" stage and Tombstoned at the Royal Rumble. On the February 13 episode of "Raw", a wheelchair-bound Ryder saw Eve kiss Cena, after Cena saved her from a kidnapping by Kane. After a confrontation with Cena, Kane wheeled Ryder off the stage, injuring him even further. While Ryder was out injured, Eve sparked a heel turn for her character when she revealed that she had never liked Ryder and had disingenuously used him for fame and publicity. Ryder returned on the March 5 episode of "Raw", confronting Eve on her recent actions, but she managed to seduce him and the two shared a long backstage kiss afterwards. Ryder then joined Theodore Long's team for a match to determine the General Manager of Raw and SmackDown at WrestleMania XXVIII. During the match, Eve distracted Ryder, costing him and Team Teddy the match, and she added further insult to injury by giving Ryder a low blow after the match. After wrestling sporadically, Ryder failed to gain revenge on Kane for Kane's attacks on him earlier in 2012 when Kane easily defeated Ryder in the pre-show match of Over the Limit. He won the 20-man battle royal on the special "Great American Bash" July 3 episode of "SmackDown" to become the acting SmackDown (or "ZackDown", as he called it) GM the next week.


title: Matt Cardona

text: At the Night of Champions pre-show on September 16, Ryder won a 16-man battle royal to become number one contender for the United States Championship. However, later on in the pay-per-view, he failed to capture the title from defending champion Antonio Cesaro. During the debut episode of "Main Event" on October 3, Ryder and Santino Marella were entered into a tournament to decide the number one contender to the tag team titles, where they defeated Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd to advance to the semi-finals. The following week on "Raw", the duo (eventually known as Team Co-Bro) was eliminated from the tournament after losing to Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow). As 2012 drew to a close, Ryder commented that the year had "sucked".


title: Matt Cardona

text: In 2013, Ryder most commonly appeared on "Superstars" and lost all his singles matches on "Raw" and "SmackDown". Ryder entered the 2013 Royal Rumble match (his only PPV match for the year) and was eliminated with no eliminations after two minutes. After weeks of the roster's emasculation at the hands of authority figure Triple H, Ryder and several other babyfaces finally saved Daniel Bryan from a beat-down by The Shield and Randy Orton on the September 16 "Raw". In response, Triple H arranged for Ryder and Justin Gabriel to face Luke Harper and Erick Rowan of the Wyatt Family on the next "SmackDown", where Ryder's team lost. On the next "Raw", Bryan, Ryder and the other babyfaces faced the Shield in an 11-on-3 handicap elimination match; Ryder was eliminated by Roman Reigns, but his team eventually won the match.


title: Matt Cardona

text: In January 2014, the "Pro Wrestling Torch Newsletter" released a ranking of WWE's roster; Ryder was ranked as a lower-tier babyface and the third lowest babyface on the roster. Ryder was also unsuccessful in winning three battle royals: the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, a battle royal for the United States Championship in May and a battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground. On the July 21 episode of "Raw", Ryder picked up his first singles victory on "Raw" since December 2012, but it was only after Layla interfered against Ryder's opponent, Fandango. In November 2014, Ryder announced that he had torn his rotator cuff. John Cena gave a storyline explanation that a comment on Twitter led to The Authority punishing Ryder.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Ryder returned on January 25, 2015, at the Royal Rumble in the Rumble match at No. 9 and was quickly eliminated by Bray Wyatt. Ryder participated in the 2nd annual André the Giant Memorial battle royal at WrestleMania 31 which was won by Big Show. Ryder, being accompanied by the cast of "Entourage", answered Cena's United States Championship open challenge on the May 25 episode of "Raw" in his hometown and in the final WWE event held in the Nassau Coliseum, but failed to win after a countered 450 Splash. On the June 4 episode of "SmackDown", Ryder accepted Kevin Owens' open challenge for the NXT Championship, which he lost.


title: Matt Cardona

text: In June 2015, Zack Ryder began appearing in WWE's developmental system NXT, where he formed a tag team with NXT's returning Mojo Rawley. After a month-long feud with the likes of The Mechanics (Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder) and Jason Jordan and Chad Gable, along with countless victories over the teams, The Hype Bros teamed up with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady to defeat The Mechanics, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable in an 8-man tag team match at . On the October 16 episode of "NXT", The Hype Bros competed in a match for the NXT Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. On the October 22 episode of "NXT", Ryder competed in a 26-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship. Ryder was unsuccessful, although he was among the last few competitors in the match.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Meanwhile, on the main roster, Ryder continued wrestling on "Superstars" and "Main Event" from June 2015 to March 2016. He suffered singles losses to Bo Dallas, Rusev and The Miz, but managed to trade singles wins and losses with Adam Rose, Heath Slater, Stardust and Tyler Breeze.


title: Matt Cardona

text: At WrestleMania 32, Ryder substituted Neville in the ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship and won. He lost the title to The Miz the following night on "Raw". Three days later on "SmackDown", Ryder received a rematch, where Maryse helped Miz to retain.


title: Matt Cardona

text: After that, he was put in the orbit for the United States championship, working with wrestlers like Rusev, Big Show, or Sheamus. At Battleground Ryder was defeated by the United States champion Rusev. After the match, with Rusev continuing to beat down Ryder, Ryder's former tag team partner Mojo Rawley would make the save, thus reforming The Hype Bros tag team. On August 21 at the SummerSlam pre-show, The Hype Bros teamed with The Usos (Jimmy and Jey) and American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) to face The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) in a 12-man tag team match, where Ryder's team was victorious.


title: Matt Cardona

text: The Hype Bros later participated in an 8-team tournament to crown the inaugural WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions, where The Hype Bros defeated The Vaudevillains in the first round, before losing to Heath Slater and Rhyno in the semi-finals. However, after American Alpha were removed from the tournament following an attack by The Usos, it was announced that The Hype Bros would face The Usos at the Backlash pay-per-view to determinate who would face Slater and Rhyno in the finals, but The Hype Bros would go on to lose the match. They also participated in multi-tag matches at Survivor Series and .


title: Matt Cardona

text: On the December 13 episode of "SmackDown", Ryder injured his knee and was inactive for six months. He returned on the June 13, 2017 episode of "SmackDown", reuniting with Rawley. On June 18, at the Money in the Bank pre-show, The Hype Bros faced The Colons in a winning effort. Two days later on "SmackDown," Shane McMahon announced that Ryder and Rawley would have an opportunity to become number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the June 27 episode of "SmackDown" in a match against tag team champions The Usos, in which they lost.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On the November 28 episode of "SmackDown Live", the team was dissolved when, after a lost against The Bludgeon Brothers, Rawley attacked Ryder. They would face at Clash of Champions and during a tournament for the United States title with Rawley winning both matches. At WrestleMania 34, Ryder participated in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by Mojo Rawley.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On April 16, Ryder was drafted to Raw brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. Before the April 23 episode of "Raw", Ryder suffered a MCL, ACL and calf muscle strains in a match against Mike Kanellis. As a result, Ryder missed the Greatest Royal Rumble event, at which he was scheduled to compete. Ryder returned on the May 7 episode of "Main Event", defeating Curt Hawkins.


title: Matt Cardona

text: For the first few months of 2019, Ryder was paired with his former tag team partner Curt Hawkins, and the two feuded with the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival. On the WrestleMania 35 pre-show, Ryder and Hawkins successfully defeated The Revival to capture the titles. The next night on "Raw", Ryder and Hawkins made their first successful title defense, defeating The Revival in a rematch and would later beat them again on the April 29 episode of "Raw". Following that, the team was largely absent from television and mainly appeared at live events. Even though they were the champions, they only made two appearances on WWE programming during the month of May: a loss to The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) on the May 6 episode of "Raw" and a win against Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on the May 27 episode of "Main Event". On the June 10 episode of "Raw", Ryder and Hawkins lost the titles back to The Revival in a tag-team triple threat match also involving The Usos. At Survivor Series on November 24, Ryder and Hawkins competed in a ten-man interbrand battle royal, but were the third team eliminated. In his final pay-per-view appearance, Ryder and Hawkins lost to the Viking Raiders at Elimination Chamber on March 8, 2020. The following night on "Raw", Ryder was defeated by Bobby Lashley in what would be his final WWE match. On April 15, both Hawkins and Ryder were released from their WWE contracts as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, thus ending Ryder's 15-year tenure with the company.


title: Matt Cardona

text: After leaving WWE, Cardona began to work with All Elite Wrestling on a limited appearance deal under his real name. He made his debut on the July 29, 2020 episode of "Dynamite", saving Cody from an attack by Alex Reynolds and John Silver of The Dark Order. He made his in-ring debut on the August 5 episode of "Dynamite", teaming with Cody to defeat Reynolds and Silver. At the All Out pay-per-view on September 5, he teamed with Dustin Rhodes, Q. T. Marshall and Scorpio Sky in an eight-man tag team match to defeat Mr. Brodie Lee, Colt Cabana, Evil Uno and Stu Grayson of The Dark Order, which was his last match with the promotion, as it was reported he was no longer under contract with AEW.


title: Matt Cardona

text: After leaving AEW, Cardona began to work with Impact Wrestling in a similar limited appearance deal. He made his surprise debut on January 16, 2021, at Hard To Kill, where he defeated Ace Austin by disqualification. On the January 26 episode of "Impact!", Cardona teamed with Josh Alexander to defeat Austin and Madman Fulton. Soon after, Cardona would begin a feud with his former tag team partner, Brian Myers. At No Surrender, Cardona and Eddie Edwards were defeated by Myers and Hernandez, and Cardona was defeated by Myers again at Rebellion in a singles match. The feud ended at Slammiversary, where Cardona teamed up with his real-life fiancée, Chelsea Green to defeat Myers and Tenille Dashwood. At Bound for Glory, Cardona competed in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet match, where he would be the runner-up in the match after being lastly eliminated by Moose. At Turning Point, Cardona lost to W. Morrissey with the help of Moose. On the December 2 episode of "Impact!", Cardona pinned Moose in a tag team match, thus earning him a Impact World Championship match at Hard To Kill. At the event, on January 8, 2022, Cardona was unsuccessful in capturing the title in a three-way match also involving Morrissey.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On the February 3 episode of "Impact!", Cardona defeated Jordynne Grace to win the Impact Digital Media Championship after hitting her with a steel chair, thus turning heel. At No Surrender, he defeated Grace by disqualification after she delivered to him a low blow. On the February 24 episode of "Impact!", Cardona defeated Grace for the title again in a Dotcombat match. On the April 15 episode of "Impact!", Myers reunited with Cardona and attacked W. Morrissey during an in-ring promo, with the help of Chelsea Green. At the end of the segment, they smashed Morrisey through a table. Later in the show, Green gave Mickie James a cheap shot and then knocked her down with Myers and Cardona's help. The following week, Cardona successfully retained his title against the returning James Maritato. He would lose the title against Rich Swann during an independent event. On October 7 at Bound for Glory, Cardona made his return by competing in the Call Your Shot Gauntlet, eliminating Gisele Shaw and Taylor Wilde before being eliminated by Bhupinder Gujjar.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On June 6, 2021, GCW held its "Zombie Walk" show at the Showboat Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Following Nick Gage's match with Jimmy Lloyd for the GCW World Championship – which ended in a no contest – a hooded figure entered the ring. The figure flailed their limbs around and performed a double underhook DDT on Gage, leading fans in attendance to believe it was Jon Moxley. When the hooded figure unmasked, however, it was revealed to be Cardona. Prior to this confrontation, Cardona had called out Gage for weeks via social media. Gage also attempted to attack Cardona at a live podcast event. Cardona challenged Gage for the title at night one of "GCW Homecoming", which also took place at the Showboat Hotel, on July 24, 2021. At the event, Cardona defeated Gage in a Deathmatch to win the title, marking his first ever world championship in any promotion. In GCW, he had a gimmick that tried to "fix" GCW bringing sports entertainment elements, like dressing like Vince McMahon when he was ECW Champion, referring to the fans as GCW Universe or introducing a new title design with a spinner version of the belt. He would lose the championship to Jon Moxley on September 4, 2021, at "The Art of War Games". At GCW's Welcome to Heartbreak event in Los Angeles, Myers and Cardona reunited alongside Chelsea Green as "The Major Players," losing to X-Pac and Joey Janela in the main event.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On December 4, 2021, at Hard Times 2, Cardona made his debut for NWA attacking NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion, Trevor Murdoch following his match with Mike Knox. On February 12, 2022, at NWA PowerrrTrip, Cardona defeated Murdoch to become the new NWA Worlds Heavyweight Champion. During Night 2 of the Crockett Cup, he retained the title by disqualification against Nick Aldis, in a match where Jeff Jarrett was the special guest referee. On June 11, at Alwayz Ready, Cardona was forced to vacate the title due to an injury.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On November 12, at Hard Times 3, Cardona competed in a three-way match for the title, which was won by Tyrus when he pinned then-champion Murdoch.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Throughout his 15-year tenure with WWE, Cardona had several gimmicks as Zack Ryder, from his debut in 2007 as an Edgehead for Edge's La Familia to a social media influencer dubbed "Long Island Iced Z" that kickstarted the "Ryder Revolution" in 2011. During this period he would use a multitude of different signature and finishing moves such as a lifting inverted DDT, an inverted overdrive dubbed the "Zack Attack", and currently a jumping leg lariat dubbed the "Rough Ryder" and "Radio Silence" respectively.


title: Matt Cardona

text: After his departure from WWE in 2020, Cardona would reinvent himself as a super-fan of all things wrestling (mainly WWE) soon after appearing on the independent circuit. As such, he riles up fans through two major methods that fans would hate. The first is the celebration of things while thanking Vince McMahon for giving him the tools to become a superstar, even dressing up in McMahon's ECW World Heavyweight Champion outfit to one of his GCW World Championship defenses. The second is by putting his own spin on the things those same fans hold dear. Whilst some would see a wrestler wearing gear referencing some of the industry's greats as a loving tribute, Cardona's versions are twisted bastardizations that mix the hardcore fanbase's influence with a WWE-based influence.


title: Matt Cardona

text: In 2022, Cardona had taken on a "belt collector" gimmick, traveling around to various independent promotions, winning their top championships, and holding them alongside his Impact Digital Media, NWA World's Heavyweight, and self-promoted Internet Championships, holding as many as seven titles representing five different promotions at one point in April 2022.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona is known for being one of the first wrestlers to become popular thanks to his online presence. British wrestler Drake Maverick claimed that, without him "your Twitter, Instagram, YouTube promo wouldn’t exist."


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona as Zack Ryder started a YouTube web series called "Z! True Long Island Story" in February 2011. The web series was a collection of short comments from Ryder, containing comedic allusions to wrestling and pop culture; it also featured cameos from his friends, family, as well as fellow WWE colleagues. The show's theme song "Just Take Care, Spike Your Hair (The Broski of the Week Song)" was written specifically about Ryder by The Luke & Duane Show. In April 2011, Ryder proclaimed himself WWE "Internet Champion" complete with a children's replica belt covered in stickers, as it was unsanctioned by WWE. In July 2011, Ryder defended his Internet Championship at a house show in Australia, against Primo. On an episode of "Z! True Long Island Story", Dolph Ziggler challenged Ryder to an Internet title match at WrestleMania 29 which Ryder accepted. Ryder soon replaced the toy belt with a $1,500 custom-made belt. The title belt's center plate features an engraved illustration of Ryder's head and spiked hair while the side plates display his logo and those of YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook but these social media logos were not featured in WWE video games due to copyright issues.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On episode 50 of "Z! True Long Island Story", Ryder announced the show would be part of WWE's official YouTube channel. "Z! True Long Island Story" ended on January 11, 2013, which was the show's 100th episode. The show was "ended" by Dolph Ziggler, who attacked Ryder with his Money in the Bank briefcase, setting up a dream sequence featuring cameos from people who had previously appeared on the show while Ryder climbed a staircase to "heaven". When Ryder woke up, he thought that the Ryder Revolution was all a dream until being told by his family and friends that it all happened. Overall, the series ran 50 episodes on Zack Ryder's YouTube channel and 50 episodes on WWE's official YouTube channel. Ryder later said that he regretted allowing WWE to move his show to their YouTube channel and that WWE had removed content from his videos. On March 10, 2014, Ryder uploaded the first episode of his new series, "Zack Ryder's Last ReZort", to his own YouTube channel. In this video, Ryder (without his traditional glasses and headband) expressed his frustration regarding his dramatic plunge to the bottom of the roster, proclaiming his desire to have "lightning strike twice" and work his way back up the cards. In October 2014, Ryder and Dolph Ziggler "took over" an episode of WWE's YouTube series, "The JBL (Not Cole) Show" for its 99th episode, making it in turn the 101st episode of Ryder's show, "Z! True Long Island Story".


title: Matt Cardona

text: In July 2011, Ryder was featured in "Sports Illustrated"'s list of the 100 most influential Twitter users in sports. On January 16, 2013, Ryder released a music video entitled "Hoeski". The song amassed over 100,000 views in four days and was also posted on WWE's official YouTube channel. "Hoeski" peaked at No. 92 on the iTunes Pop Music chart on February 5, 2013.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Ryder has appeared in ten WWE video games. He made his in-game debut at "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009" and appeared in "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011", "WWE '12", "WWE '13", "WWE 2K14", "WWE 2K16", "WWE 2K17", "WWE 2K18", "WWE 2K19", and "WWE 2K20".


title: Matt Cardona

text: On March 18, 2017, it was announced that Ryder would be launching a new YouTube series called "Z! True Comeback Story", chronicling his return to the ring after suffering a knee injury in December. In 2018, Ryder started a podcast with Curt Hawkins about wrestling figures called The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. Ever since their WWE release, they began hosting the podcast under their current in-ring names Matt Cardona and Brian Myers respectively.


title: Matt Cardona

text: On August 20, 2022, it was revealed on Sirius XM's Busted Open Radio that Matt Cardona had joined the cast of The Last Match: A Pro-Wrestling Rock Musical as the fictional wrestling heel, Alexander Swagger opposite "Ramin Karimloo" and Amber Ardolino. On September 26, 2022 Cardona joined the cast for two live performances of The Last Match in Jersey City, NJ at "White Eagle Hall".


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona resides in Orlando, Florida. He began dating Canadian professional wrestler Chelsea Green in January 2017, and they were engaged on April 4, 2019. They were married on December 31, 2021, in Las Vegas.


title: Matt Cardona

text: Cardona is an avid fan of "Ghostbusters". He has periodically donned "Ghostbusters" themed ring gear during matches, and discussed his love of the franchise in the 2016 documentary "Ghostheads".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze are an English rock band that came to prominence in the United Kingdom during the new wave period of the late 1970s, and continued recording in the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. In the UK, their singles "Cool for Cats", "Up the Junction", and "Labelled with Love" were top-ten chart hits; "Pulling Mussels" only made it to 44 in the UK charts. Though not as commercially successful in the United States, Squeeze had American hits with "Tempted", "Black Coffee in Bed", and "Hourglass", and were considered a part of the Second British Invasion.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The vast majority of their material is composed of lyrics by Chris Difford and music by Glenn Tilbrook, who are guitarists and vocalists in the band. The duo were hailed as "the heirs to Lennon and McCartney's throne" during the band's initial popularity in the late 1970s. The group formed in Deptford, London, in 1974, and first broke up in 1982. Squeeze then reformed in 1985, and disbanded again in 1999.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The band reunited for tours through the United States and United Kingdom in 2007. In 2010, they issued "Spot the Difference", an album of newly recorded versions of older material. The band's first album of all-new material since 1998, "Cradle to the Grave", was released in October 2015, followed by another album, "The Knowledge", in October 2017.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The band's founding members in March 1974 were Chris Difford (guitar, vocals, lyrics), and Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar, music). Difford claims that in 1973, he stole 50p from his mother's purse to put a card in a local sweetshop window to advertise for a guitarist to join his band, although he was not actually in a band at the time. Tilbrook was the only person who responded to the advertisement. Difford and Tilbrook began writing songs together, and soon added Jools Holland (keyboards) and Paul Gunn (drums) to form an actual band. The group performed under several names, most frequently "Captain Trundlow's Sky Company" or "Skyco", before selecting the band name "Squeeze" as a facetious tribute to the Velvet Underground's oft-derided 1973 album "Squeeze".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze's early career was spent around Deptford in south-east London, where they were part of a lively local music scene which included Alternative TV and Dire Straits. Though the group was initially signed to Miles Copeland III's BTM Records, the label went under in late 1976, and so their early singles and debut EP, 1977's "Packet of Three", were released on the Deptford Fun City label.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze's first EP and most of their self-titled debut album (1978) were produced by John Cale for A&M Records. Cale had been a member of Velvet Underground from whose album Squeeze took their name. However, the debut album's two hit singles ("Take Me I'm Yours" and "Bang Bang") were produced by the band themselves, as the label found Cale's recordings uncommercial.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In the United States and Canada, the band and album were dubbed "UK Squeeze" owing to legal conflicts arising from a contemporary American band called "Tight Squeeze". The "U.K." was dropped for all subsequent releases. In Australia, the same name change was used due to legal conflicts arising from an existing Sydney-based band also called "Squeeze". Albums in Australia were credited to "UK Squeeze" up to and including 1985's "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The band's second album, "Cool for Cats" (1979), contained the band's two highest charting UK singles in "Cool For Cats" and "Up The Junction", both of which peaked at No. 2. John Bentley replaced Harry Kakoulli on bass in 1979 following the release of the LP.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: "Argybargy" (1980), the band's third album, was also a UK hit. It was additionally a mild breakthrough in North America, as the single "Another Nail in My Heart" was a No. 56 hit in Canada, and second single "Pulling Mussels (from the Shell)" received airplay on US rock radio stations. The video for the former was frequently shown on independent video music shows in the US.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Keyboardist Jools Holland left the band for a solo career in 1980. He was replaced by highly rated singer-keyboardist Paul Carrack, a former member of both British soul-pop band Ace and progressive rock band Roxy Music.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In 1981, the band released "East Side Story". It was produced by Elvis Costello and Roger Bechirian, and featured Carrack's lead vocals on the radio hit "Tempted". Carrack himself left after the release of "East Side Story", and was replaced by Don Snow. This line-up recorded the "Sweets from a Stranger" LP in 1982. Negative reviews, the stresses of touring, and conflict between band members led Difford and Tilbrook to break up the band later that year, after releasing a final single, "Annie Get Your Gun".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Difford and Tilbrook continued to work together, and released one self-titled album as the duo Difford & Tilbrook in 1984. Although it is not officially a Squeeze album, to many fans "Difford & Tilbrook" is considered a "lost" Squeeze LP because Difford and Tilbrook were themselves the only constant members of Squeeze. Several Difford & Tilbrook tracks have been featured on officially sanctioned Squeeze compilations, and Tilbrook's official site lists "Difford & Tilbrook" as a Squeeze album.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The duo also contributed to a musical written and staged in Deptford during this period, entitled "Labelled with Love" and based in large part on the music of Squeeze.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze re-formed to play a one night charity gig in 1985, with all five members from the 1980 "Argybargy" period—Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Lavis, and Bentley. The performance was such a success that the band unanimously agreed to resume recording and touring as Squeeze. Searching for a different sound, the band replaced Bentley with bassist Keith Wilkinson from the "Difford & Tilbrook" sessions. This line-up released the 1985 LP "Cosi Fan Tutti Frutti".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The new LP featured complex double-tracked keyboard parts which could not be duplicated by a single keyboard player in a live setting; hence, Jools' brother Christopher Holland, then aged 17, played and toured as a second keyboardist in 1985. Christopher had also played Hammond organ on the album's fourth single "Heartbreaking World", which was sung by Jools Holland. However, Christopher Holland's tenure was short-lived, for he had signed to I.R.S. Records and was pursuing a solo career, so he was replaced by an official new member: Andy Metcalfe of The Soft Boys and The Egyptians. A bassist in those groups, Metcalfe played keyboards with Squeeze. His tenure as the band's sixth member lasted until 1988.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In 1987, the sextet recorded the album "Babylon and On". A successful release on both sides of the Atlantic, this album contained the band's only US top 40 hits in "Hourglass" and "853-5937".


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Metcalfe left the band in 1988, leaving the Difford / Tilbrook / Holland / Wilkinson / Lavis line-up to record 1989's "Frank". The LP was a commercial disappointment, from which no charting singles were taken in the UK, and the band was dropped from their long-time label A&M.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Adding a new second keyboard player in the person of Matt Irving, the band issued the live album "A Round and a Bout" on I.R.S. Records in March 1990. Jools Holland left Squeeze again in early 1990, and was not immediately replaced. In his stead, the band used session musicians such as Irving (who was no longer an official band member), Steve Nieve, and Bruce Hornsby for the 1991 release "Play", which came out on the Reprise label. This release again spawned no UK hits, although in the US the singles "Satisfied" and "Crying in My Sleep" received significant airplay on modern rock stations, and in Canada "Satisfied" was a top 50 hit. However, Reprise dropped the band after this album. Following this, drummer Gilson Lavis was let go in 1992, and replaced by Nieve's Attractions bandmate Pete Thomas. Paul Carrack also returned to the band in 1993, although by this point Squeeze was not so much a band as it was a trade name for Difford and Tilbrook plus sidemen.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze re-signed to A&M in time for 1993's "Some Fantastic Place". After a period of commercial decline in the UK, lead single "Third Rail" hit No. 39, becoming Squeeze's first UK Top 40 hit in six years.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze's line-up during the mid-1990s changed constantly. Though not an official Squeeze member, Aimee Mann was featured on vocals and guitar at many Squeeze shows during 1994. Thomas also exited the band that year, and Carrack doubled on snare and keyboards for a few gigs before session drummer Andy Newmark was brought in. Then—still in 1994—Carrack left, which allowed keyboardist Andy Metcalfe to return to the band for a short spell, playing on some live dates. Drummer Kevin Wilkinson (no relation to bassist Keith), formerly of The Waterboys and China Crisis, was also added around this time, replacing Newmark. He lasted through the 1995 album "Ridiculous", which was recorded by the quartet of Difford, Tilbrook, Wilkinson and Wilkinson. The album spun off three minor hits in the UK: "This Summer", "Electric Trains" and "Heaven Knows". ("Heaven Knows" was used as the closing song in the 1995 film "Hackers" starring Angelina Jolie.) In addition, a minimally remixed version of "This Summer" became a No. 32 UK hit in 1996, a year after the original version peaked at No. 36. Despite this, A&M once again dropped Squeeze from their roster in late 1996.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Following the release of "Ridiculous", Don Snow (now known as Jonn Savannah) returned to Squeeze yet again as their touring keyboard player, but by 1997, the Squeeze line-up had officially dwindled down to just Difford and Tilbrook. That year the duo, billed as Squeeze, released the non-album single "Down in the Valley" as a fundraising single for Charlton Athletic F.C. Tilbrook formed the Quixotic label for this and future Squeeze-related releases, as well as releases by other artists.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: For the 1998 album "Domino", the band was again a quintet consisting of Difford, Tilbrook, bassist Hilaire Penda, ex-Del Amitri drummer Ashley Soan, and yet another returning keyboardist in the person of Christopher Holland. Nick Harper often performed with this version of Squeeze as a guest touring musician, providing additional guitar and vocals. In January 1999, just days before a planned tour, Chris Difford suddenly announced that he was taking a "hiatus" from Squeeze. The last venue at which Squeeze played with Difford was at The Charlotte, Leicester, England. The band subsequently continued as a quartet led by Tilbrook, with Jim Kimberley replacing Soan on some tour dates, and Christopher Holland exiting in the autumn to be replaced by Tilbrook's other frequent writing partner Chris Braide.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: On 27 November 1999, in Aberdeen, Scotland, Squeeze played their final gig before breaking up again. Difford and Tilbrook embarked on separate solo careers shortly thereafter.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In 2003 Difford and Tilbrook collaborated on a song for the first time since "Domino". The track "Where I Can Be Your Friend" appeared on Tilbrook's well-reviewed second solo album, "Transatlantic Ping Pong". In 2004, the pair worked with music journalist Jim Drury on the retrospective "Squeeze: Song By Song". In this book they declared they had become better friends since breaking up the band than they ever were while Squeeze was together.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: However, a 2004 attempt by the VH1 show "Bands Reunited" to reassemble the mid-1980s line-up of Squeeze (Difford, Tilbrook, Holland, Wilkinson and Lavis) ended in failure. While Difford and bassist Keith Wilkinson were both favourable to the idea and drummer Gilson Lavis expressed interest, Jools Holland felt he was too busy with current projects to participate. Even more crucially, Glenn Tilbrook eventually decided against a band reunion at that point in time.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Still, Difford and Tilbrook's friendship continued, and Difford sat in for a few songs at a Tilbrook solo gig in Glasgow in December 2005.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In early 2007 it was announced that Difford and Tilbrook would re-form Squeeze for a series of shows throughout the latter half of the year, in support of Universal and Warner's re-issuing of the band's back catalogue and the release of a new 'best of' album, "Essential Squeeze", on 30 April. Jools Holland and Gilson Lavis were unable to take part in the series of shows, as they were touring under the "Jools Holland & His Rhythm & Blues Orchestra" name for most of the year. However, John Bentley re-joined on bass for the first time since Squeeze's last reunion show in 1985. The rest of the line-up was fleshed out by members of Tilbrook's touring band, the Fluffers: Stephen Large (keyboards) and Simon Hanson (drums).


title: Squeeze (band)

text: On 7 July 2007, at the "Return to the Summer of Love Party" at Hawkhurst, Kent, Difford and Tilbrook, each singing and playing acoustic guitars, played a seven-song set. They played, in order, "Take Me I'm Yours", "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)", "Is that Love?", "Tempted", "Labelled with Love", "Cool for Cats" and "Up the Junction". The first actual full-band Squeeze show since 1999 took place less than a week later, at their old haunt The Albany (in Deptford) on Thursday 12 July; this was actually billed as a "warm up" gig prior to the upcoming US tour, and was followed by GuilFest 2007. They toured the US in August 2007, supported on various dates by Fountains of Wayne, Will Hoge, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Aimee Mann, and Cheap Trick.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In November 2007, the band released "Five Live: On Tour in America", a live CD consisting of recordings from the American tour. Television appearances and live shows in the US and UK followed in 2008, 2009 and 2010.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: The band were honoured with a Heritage Award by PRS for Music in March 2010. A plaque was erected at Greenwich Dance's The Borough Hall on Royal Hill in Greenwich, London where they had performed their first gig.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Squeeze embarked on their 'Spot The Difference' tour of the US in July 2010, which continued in the UK in November and December. The CD "Spot The Difference", a re-recording of Squeeze's classic hits, was released in August 2010 to accompany the tour.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: On the US tour, during a performance of "Pulling Mussels (From the Shell)" live on the "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" show, Stephen Large played the keyboard solo on an Apple iPad.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: In September 2010, Stephen Large left the band and was replaced by Steve Nieve, who had played as a session musician with Squeeze and Difford in the past, but had not—until this line-up change—ever been an official member of the group. However, within a matter of months, Large returned to the Squeeze line-up as Nieve left the band.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: This line-up of Difford/Tilbrook/Bentley/Large/Hanson continued to tour throughout 2011 and 2012. A 20-track live recording, "Live at the Fillmore", was issued on iTunes and as a limited-edition white vinyl double LP in April 2012.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: Prior to their 2012 UK tour, Squeeze announced on the "Radcliffe & Maconie" show on BBC Radio 6 Music that they would be selling live recordings of every night's show on the tour at each venue via a 'Pop up Shop'. When the tour commenced, each live recording the band sold also came with a 4-song bonus disc entitled "Packet of Four"; these were studio recordings of new Squeeze songs, their first studio recordings of new material in 14 years.


title: Squeeze (band)

text: On 11 February 2013, Tilbrook and Difford performed a live cover of the Beatles' song "Please Please Me" on BBC Radio 2. They were joined by Paul Jones on harmonica. Alongside other contemporary artists, the performance was part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the original recording of the first Beatles album of the same name in the same period of time. A documentary of the recordings was shown by BBC Four on 15 February 2013.