Imatinib was invented in the late 1990s by scientists at Ciba-Geigy (which merged with Sandoz in 1996 to become Novartis), in a team led by biochemist Nicholas Lydon and that included Elisabeth Buchdunger and Jürg Zimmermann and its use to treat CML was driven by oncologist Brian Druker of Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU).