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DJ HUGIN NEWS/Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and Global Alliance for TB Drug Development announce five-year collaboration targeted to accelerate TB treatment R&D

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  * The NITD and the TB Alliance's collaboration aims to move
    projects quickly from the research phase through the
    translational stage and into development
  * Both partners will leverage their broad networks of expertise and
    resources to rapidly bring effective, simpler treatments to
    patients 

  * The NITD and the TB Alliance's collaboration aims to move
    projects quickly from the research phase through the
    translational stage and into development
  * Both partners will leverage their broad networks of expertise and
    resources torapidly bring effective, simpler treatments to
    patients 

Basel, June 24, 2008 -  The Novartis Institute for Tropical  Diseases
(NITD) and the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB  Alliance)
announced today a five-year research collaboration designed to  yield
new medicines for TB, including drug-resistant TB. The partnership is
a milestone toward the  development of faster  TB drug regimens  that
treat all forms of TB, are  easier for patients to complete, and  can
be used safely in patients with HIV/AIDS. 

"Since the NITD's establishment in  2002, its core strategy has  been
to collaborate  with  other  organizations  to  develop  and  deliver
life-saving treatments to those who  need them," said Paul  Herrling,
chairman of NITD  and head  of Corporate Research  at Novartis.  "Our
dedicated research team will leverage our expertise gained throughout
the past six years  of NITD's TB efforts  in partnership with the  TB
Alliance." The TB Alliance  is the first not-for-profit  organization
to bring a novel TB drug candidate to Phase II trials. 

Under the  collaboration, the  NITD and  the TB  Alliance will  share
information on  new  and  ongoing TB  drug  discovery  projects.  The
agreement clears the pathway for future collaborative development  of
novel antibiotic compounds. This  partnership offers the  opportunity
for significant progress  in the  TB drug pipeline,  which has  grown
considerably in  the  last few  years  due,  in large  part,  to  the
resurgent efforts of the TB Alliance and its public-private partners. 

"While the global TB crisis shows no signs of abating, new treatments
that are easier for patients to  complete and that attack TB in  new,
faster ways  are desperately  needed,"  said Dr.  Jerome  Premmereur,
President  and  CEO  of  the  TB  Alliance.  "We  are  confident  our
collaboration with NITD will not only produce promising anti-TB  drug
candidates,  but  will  serve  as  an  industry  model  in  combining
resources, expertise  and willpower  to tackle  one of  the  greatest
public health threats of our time." 

It is estimated that one-third of the world's population is  infected
with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb), the bacterium that causes TB.
Active TB disease killed over  1.5 million people in 2006,  according
to the latest data from the World Health Organization (WHO). 

Drug-susceptible TB can be cured with a four-drug combination,  taken
ideally under direct observation, but this takes six to nine  months,
and only works  if patients  complete the long  and often  burdensome
process. 

Erratic or  inconsistent  exposure  to  drugs  breeds  drug-resistant
strains that increasingly  defy current medicines.  According to  the
WHO, there  were  nearly 490,000  cases  of multi-drug  resistant  TB
(MDR-TB) worldwide  in  2006.   MDR-TB  is  defined  as  TB  that  is
resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin,  two of the mainstay drugs  in
today's four-drug, first-line TB treatment regimen. 

In HIV-infected patients whose immune systems are weakened, TB is the
leading cause  of death.   However, the  current first-line  TB  drug
regimen  is  not  compatible   with  certain  common   antiretroviral
therapies used to treat HIV/AIDS. 

The new collaboration supports the  overall mission of both the  NITD
and the TB  Alliance, as they  are committed to  improving access  to
medicines and helping reduce the overall global TB disease burden. 

The NITD  relies  on establishing  key  partnerships to  augment  its
research  activities   and   recognizes  the   importance   of   such
partnerships,  such  as  the  TB   Alliance,  to  help  support   the
advancement  of  drug  discovery  for  neglected  disease  under  its
not-for-profit mission statement. In 2004,  the NITD and TB  Alliance
collaborated  to  develop  potential  drugs  for  the  treatment   of
tuberculosis   from   a   class   of   chemical   compounds    called
nitroimidazopyrans. 

Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be
identified by  terminology  such as  "targeted  to", "aims  to",  "to
develop",   "committed",   "will",   "designed",   "toward",   "can",
"strategy",  "confident",   "estimated",  "potential",   or   similar
expressions, or  by  express  or implied  discussions  regarding  the
potential development  and  marketing of  new  treatments for  TB  or
regarding  potential  future  revenues  from  such  treatments.  Such
forward-looking statements reflect the  current views of the  Company
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 any such treatments will be successfully developed  or
offered for sale in any market.  Nor can there be any guarantee  that
any such treatments will achieve any particular levels of revenue  in
the future. In particular,  management's expectations regarding  such
treatments could  be  affected  by, among  other  things,  unexpected
research  results;  unexpected  clinical  trial  results,   including
unexpected new clinical  data and unexpected  additional analysis  of
existing clinical data;  unexpected regulatory actions  or delays  or
government regulation generally; 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, 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 the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD)
The Novartis Institute for Tropical  Disease (NITD) aims to  discover
novel treatments and prevention methods for major tropical  diseases.
In those  developing  countries  where these  diseases  are  endemic,
Novartis intends to make treatments readily available without  profit
to poor patients. The Singapore-based institute is striving to become
known in  the  areas  of  dengue  fever,  tuberculosis  and  malaria,
contributing to the education  of young scientists  and being a  role
model for  public-private partnerships  in  Southeast Asia.  NITD  is
aiming to have at least two compounds in clinical trials by 2008, and
one novel compound available to patients by 2012. 

About Novartis
Novartis AG provides healthcare  solutions that address the  evolving
needs of patients and  societies. Focused solely  on growth areas  in
healthcare, Novartis  offers a  diversified  portfolio to  best  meet
these    needs:    innovative    medicines,    cost-saving    generic
pharmaceuticals,  preventive  vaccines  and  diagnostic  tools,   and
consumer health products. Novartis is  the only company with  leading
positions in these areas. In 2007, the Group's continuing  operations
(excluding divestments  in  2007)  achieved net  sales  of  USD  38.1
billion and  net income  of USD  6.5 billion.  Approximately USD  6.4
billion  was  invested  in  R&D  activities  throughout  the   Group.
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies  employ
approximately 98,000  full-time associates  and operate  in over  140
countries around  the  world.  For  more  information,  please  visit
http://www.novartis.com. 

About The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development
The Global  Alliance  for TB  Drug  Development (TB  Alliance)  is  a
not-for-profit,  product  development  partnership  accelerating  the
discovery  and  development  of  new  TB  drugs  that  will   shorten
treatment, be effective against susceptible and resistant strains, be
compatible with antiretroviral  therapies for  those HIV-TB  patients
currently  on  such  therapies,  and  improve  treatment  of   latent
infection. 

Working with public and private  partners worldwide, the TB  Alliance
is leading the development of the most comprehensive portfolio of  TB
drug candidates  in  history,  and  is  committed  to  ensuring  that
approved new regimens are affordable, adopted and available to  those
who need them.  The TB  Alliance operates  with funding  from Bill  &
Melinda Gates Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, Irish Aids, the
Netherlands Ministry of  Foreign Affairs (DGIS),  the United  Kingdom
Department for  International  Development  (DFID),  and  the  United
States  Agency  for  International  Development  (USAID).  For   more
information on TB drug development and the TB Alliance, please  visit
www.tballiance.org. 

                                # # # 

Novartis Media Relations 

Jeffrey Lockwood
Novartis Global Media Relations

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