Sandoz Philatelic Newsletter

I've recently received the collection of the (now deceased) father of a friend. The collector was a doctor and recieved ~35 issues (c.1960's I think) of an item entitled "The Sandoz Philatelic Newsletter" - it seems this was a promotional offer of the Basle Switzerland drug co of the same name (now part of Novartis). And in searching around I have seen listings of several serisous looking books on philatelic subjects published by Sandoz. Anyone have any background on the connection between Sandoz and philately?

When I get a chance I'll scan on the newsletter if anyone's interested.

When I hear Sandoz I immediately think of Albert Hoffman the Scientist/Pharmacologist that extracted L.S.D.-25 from the Ergot fungus in 1938. However, Sandoz presently is the generic drug subsidiary of Novartis. Sorry I could not shed more light on the subject but here is a Wikipedia write-up on the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandoz