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NOVARTIS' TASIGNA SHOWS EFFICACY IN TRIAL

June 16, 2006

Clinical trial results reported in the New England Journal of Medicine indicate that the vast majority of patients with a difficult-to-treat form of leukemia can benefit from therapy with Novartis' new anticancer drug Tasigna.

Data from the trial showed that 92 percent of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia taking Tasigna (nilotinib) saw their blood-cell count return to normal in less than five months.

Findings also showed that in more than a third of patients the Ph chromosome -- the genetic abnormality that characterizes most cases of CML -- was undetectable after Tasigna treatment.