Access to innovative medicines is a primary concern of Novartis, and we work with healthcare organizations and governments worldwide to facilitate reimbursement and patient access. For our breakthrough cancer therapy Glivec® (imatinib), Novartis designed our Glivec International Patient Assistance Program (GIPAP), one of the most generous and far-reaching patient assistance programs ever developed on a global scale.

GIPAP provides Glivec at no cost to qualified patients who are:

• properly diagnosed
• not insured
• not reimbursed
• and have no other financial resource (cannot pay for it privately)

GIPAP is designed to provide Glivec to qualified patients in countries where Glivec is approved for treating:

• CML (Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML in various phases)
• KIT (CD117)-positive unresectable and/or metastatic malignant GIST

Novartis continues to be committed to enhancing access to Glivec through our global patient-access initiative. Since its launch in early 2002, GIPAP has provided Glivec free of charge in about 80 countries to 19,378 patients who would not have otherwise had access to the drug to treat their life-threatening disease. As of November 30, 2007 approximately US $247 million worth of Glivec has been provided at no cost to more than 27,108 patients worldwide through Global and US PAP. Novartis continues to find innovative solutions for access within many countries.

For more information about GIPAP, please visit The Max Foundation, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people with leukaemia and other blood-related diseases. The Max Foundation administers GIPAP on behalf of Novartis.