At a media conference today, Novartis Agribusiness presented its new guidelines for collaboration with developing countries. These guidelines set out the principles for collaboration with these countries and for the transfer of intellectual property. Projects already under way in Vietnam and Africa were presented as examples of successful partnerships in the field of agriculture.

The introduction of new technologies, such as gene technology, is a subject of some
controversy – both with regard to its acceptance in industrialized countries and also in terms of
its use in developing countries.

The deployment of effective measures that will tackle poverty, disease and hunger in
developing countries has been the declared aim of international institutions for many years and
has led to collaboration with the governments of the countries concerned. Klaus M. Leisinger,
Professor of Development Sociology at the University of Basel and Head of the Novartis
Foundation for Sustainable Development, draws attention to the complexity and the
dimensions of the problem. "New technologies, such as gene technology, can make an
important contribution – but just as important are institutional reforms in the developing
countries themselves and in international trade," he explained at the media conference.

Novartis Agribusiness firmly believes that industry too shares the burden of responsibility and
has launched its own projects. Dr Arthur Einsele, Head of Public Affairs & Communications
with Novartis Seeds, said: "There is currently a shortage of research institutions in the
developing countries that are equipped to carry out the work or apply the know-how
available." Novartis aims to help address this problem and to invest researchers in these
countries with the knowledge necessary to further the development of the available
technologies in these regions in terms of local needs. The opportunities for collaboration of this
kind are also to be promoted in the future.

Dr Wallace Beversdorf, Head of Research and Development in the Seeds Sector, outlined the
projects that are already under way. The last year, for example, has seen intensified
collaboration in Vietnam on the cultivation of the sweet potato. The sweet potato is an
important source of nutrition for developing countries, because it is rich in vitamins and
minerals. Production, however, is hampered by a pest known as the sweet potato weevil, or
Cylas formicarius: up to 50 per cent of the harvest can be destroyed by this pest. The search
for resistant varieties of sweet potato have been crowned with little success to date. But now
Novartis Seeds offers a new approach to solving this problem: Bt-strains have been given free
of charge to the Institute for Biotechnology in Hanoi, Vietnam, as part of a licence agreement.
These can be used to research into the insecticidal activities of compounds to control the
sweet potato weevil. The results of experiments to date give cause for optimism, and the
chances are that subsistence farmers in particular will be supplied in the foreseeable future with
a variety of sweet potato which is resistant to this pest.

With its Positech® system, Novartis recently presented a new selection technology for the
identification of genetically modified (GM) plant cells. This system enables GM seeds to be
developed without the use of antibiotic resistance markers. Positech® has been put at the
licence-free disposal, for example, of the agricultural research and development institute in
Malaysia and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines.

In Malaysia, the system is being used in papaya projects concerned with resistance to virus
diseases. At the same time, it is hoped that the stability of the fruit in storage can be improved
and that the production of the papaya, which is so important to the local economy, will thereby
be given a boost.

The IRRI in the Philippines is aiming to achieve insect resistance in rice – with the help of the
Bt gene from Novartis.

But research is also under way in Africa: with the transfer of technology know-how, Novartis
Agribusiness is aiming to make a contribution here to the development of maize varieties that
are resistant to insects and viruses. And since 1979, the Novartis Foundation for Sustainable
Development has been active in Africa helping to find solutions to local problems. Millet
production for example has already been substantially increased – and important work has
also been done on analysing the valuable nutrients contained in the local baobab tree.

Novartis (NYSE: NVS) is a world leader in healthcare with core businesses in
pharmaceuticals, consumer health, generics, eye-care, and animal health. In 1999, the Group
(including Agribusiness) achieved sales of CHF 32.5 billion and invested more than CHF 4.2
billion in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis employs about 82 000 people
and operates in over 140 countries around the world. The Group recently announced plans to
spin off its Crop Protection and Seeds sectors and to merge them with the agrochemicals
business of AstraZeneca in the second half of 2000.

Company news release
N2894