Novartis delivers 250,000,000th Coartem® treatment and becomes first healthcare company to join United Against Malaria partnership

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* Physician and Novartis Chairman and CEO Daniel Vasella delivers
250,000,000th treatment to healthcare clinic in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania

* Novartis becomes first healthcare company to join United Against
Malaria, a pan-Africa campaign to end malaria-related deaths and
suffering

* With an estimated 630,000 lives saved, Novartis nonprofit Malaria
Initiative is the largest access-to-medicines program for the
developing world[1]

Basel, July 6, 2009 - Today Novartis announced the delivery of the
250,000,000th treatment of Coartem, a highly-effective
artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of
malaria, with cure rates of more than 95%[2]*. To mark this occasion,
Dr. Daniel Vasella, Chairman and CEO of Novartis, delivered the
milestone dose to Mwananyamala District Hospital in Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania.

Reinforcing Novartis' long-term commitment to patients in the
developing world, Dr. Vasella also announced that Novartis is the
first healthcare company to join United Against Malaria (UAM), a
consortium that strives to raise awareness of malaria and achieve the
shared goal of ending malaria deaths in Africa by 2015.

Preventable and curable, malaria remains a devastating disease
infecting more than 250 million people each year and causing an
estimated 880,000 deaths[3]. Its toll is heaviest among young
children in sub-Saharan Africa, where it is estimated that a child
dies of malaria every 30 seconds[3].

"With 250 million treatments provided and an estimated 630,000 lives
saved, the Novartis Malaria Initiative is the industry's largest
access-to-medicines program in the developing world[1]," said Dr.
Vasella. "However, malaria demands a collaborative approach. Joining
United Against Malaria in its campaign is a promising way to relieve
unnecessary suffering due to malaria."

Novartis is the first healthcare company to join UAM, whose founding
partners include Comic Relief, Johns Hopkins University, Malaria No
More, the ONE Campaign, PATH, Population Services International, Roll
Back Malaria and the United Nations Foundation and the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation. Aiming to raise awareness and renew worldwide
commitment to ending malaria, UAM will stage several high-profile
public events in late 2009 and 2010 leading up to next year's World
Cup in South Africa.

"Novartis is a major player in the global effort to end malaria
deaths in Africa by 2015," said Scott Case, CEO of Malaria No More
and a United Against Malaria partner. "We congratulate Novartis on
this remarkable achievement and welcome Novartis to the United
Against Malaria team. This invaluable partnership shows how teamwork
is vital in the race to save lives."

Coartem is a highly-effective three-day malaria treatment with cure
rates of more than 95%, even in areas of multi-drug resistance[2]. It
is approved for use in over 80 countries worldwide. In January 2009,
Novartis and Medicines for Malaria Venture introduced Coartem®
Dispersible, a new child-friendly formulation. Sweet-tasting and
easily dispersed in water, Coartem® Dispersible eases administration
and enables accurate dosing for children, the most vulnerable group
of malaria patients.

Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be
identified by terminology such as "estimated," "promising,"
"commitment," "preventable and curable," "aiming to," "will," or
similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding
potential contributions by Novartis to the fight against Malaria or
to other causes, or regarding potential future revenues from Coartem®
or Coartem® Dispersible. You should not place undue reliance on these
statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current
views of management regarding future events, and involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual
results to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements.
There can be no guarantee that Novartis will maintain its
contributions to the fight against Malaria or to other causes at
present levels in the future. Nor can there be any guarantee that
Coartem® or Coartem® Dispersible will achieve any particular levels
of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations
regarding Coartem® or Coartem® Dispersible could be affected by,
among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or
government regulation generally; unexpected clinical trial results,
including unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional
analysis of existing clinical data; the company's ability to obtain
or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property
protection; competition in general; government, industry and general
public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could
have on the values attributed to the Novartis Group's assets and
liabilities as recorded in the Group's consolidated balance sheet,
and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form
20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should
one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should
underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary
materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of
this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis
Novartis AG provides healthcare solutions that address the evolving
needs of patients and societies. Focused solely on healthcare,
Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs:
innovative medicines, preventive vaccines, diagnostic tools,
cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, and consumer health products.
Novartis is the only company with leading positions in these areas.
In 2008, the Group's continuing operations achieved net sales of USD
41.5 billion and net income of USD 8.2 billion. Approximately USD 7.2
billion was invested in R&D activities throughout the Group.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ
approximately 96,700 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in
more than 140 countries around the world. For more information,
please visit http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis was named a Super Sector Leader by the Dow Jones
Sustainability Index (DJSI) in 2008. In the same year, 74 million
patients around the world benefited from Novartis programs valued at
USD 1.26 billion. These initiatives range from drug donation and
research programs to combat neglected diseases like malaria,
tuberculosis and leprosy in developing nations, to patient assistance
programs that help cancer patients receive the most innovative and
effective treatments available. For further information on our
corporate citizenship activities, please consult:

http://www.corporatecitizenship.novartis.com.

About United Against Malaria
UAM is a coalition of organizations including founding partners Comic
Relief, Johns Hopkins University, Malaria No More, the ONE Campaign,
PATH, Population Services International, Roll Back Malaria and the
United Nations Foundation. UAM is supported by the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation. It is a partnership of football stars,
non-governmental organizations, foundations, governments,
corporations, and the general public who have joined forces ahead of
the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to unite in the fight against
malaria. By partnering with footballers, UAM aims to raise global
awareness and renew worldwide commitment to ending malaria, as well
as to increase the use of prevention tools and malaria treatment in
Africa. UAM will stage several high-profile public events in late
2009 and 2010, leading up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, for
more information please go to www.unitedagainstmalaria.org.

References
[1] The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and
Associations. Available at: www.ifpma.org.
[2] Abdulla S. et al. Efficacy and safety of arthemeter-lumefantrine
dispersible tablets compared with crushed commercial tablets in
African infants and children with uncomplicated malaria: a
randomised, single blind, multicentre trial. Lancet . Published
online.
[3] Malaria Fact Sheet. World Health Organization Web site. Available
at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/.

* Cure rates are PCR-corrected in the mITT population. For full
details see reference.

# # #

Novartis Media Relations

Eric Althoff Peter Shelby
Novartis Global Media Relations Novartis Pharma Communications
+41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 61 324 4470 (direct)
+41 79 593 4202 (mobile) +41 79 597 6353 (mobile)
eric.althoff@novartis.com peter.shelby@novartis.com

Central media line: +41 61 324 2200
E-mail: media.relations@novartis.com

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