Novartis Foundation confirms new members of its Board of trustees, including new Chairman Dr. Joerg Reinhardt

• Dr. Joerg Reinhardt, Chairman of the Novartis Board of Directors, will serve as Chairman of the Foundation Board of trustees
  
• New trustees also include Professor Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Dr. Rebecca Weintraub of Harvard Medical School, and Mr. Rainer Boehm from Novartis Pharmaceuticals
  
• The Novartis Foundation and its partners are pioneering innovative healthcare models to have a transformational impact on the health of the poorest populations

Basel, July 27, 2015 - The Novartis Foundation announces four new members of its Board of trustees, including Dr. Joerg Reinhardt, who succeeds Dr. Andrin Oswald as Chairman of the Novartis Foundation. Prof. Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Dr. Rebecca Weintraub of Harvard Medical School join the board along with Mr. Rainer Boehm from Novartis Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Juergen Brokatzky-Geiger, Global Head of Corporate Responsibility for Novartis, and Dr. Ann Aerts, Head of the Novartis Foundation, will remain on the Novartis Foundation Board. Previous Board members Mr. George Gunn and Prof. Dr. Jean-Marie Lehn stepped down in the past year.

"The Novartis Foundation has been committed to improving healthcare for the poorest populations for more than 35 years," said Dr. Joerg Reinhardt, Chairman of the Novartis Board of Directors. "I am happy to contribute to the continuation of this important work and to welcome two external board members who bring a wealth of experience and expertise in Global Health as well as a fresh perspective on the Novartis Foundation."

Rebecca Weintraub, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Physician in the Division of Global Health Equity at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Faculty Director of the Global Health Delivery Project at Harvard University. Peter Piot, MD, PhD, is currently the Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Formerly, he was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and he is the co-discoverer of the Ebola virus.

"We are at a crucial point in global health. In low- and middle-income countries we still struggle with managing infectious disease, maternal and child health and malnutrition, while at the same time, there is a growing crisis of non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. There is also the emergence of technology and connectivity that allows us to reach patients and healthcare professionals more than ever before," said Professor Peter Piot. "I am excited to be part of the Novartis Foundation team working with the global health community to innovate healthcare delivery addressing this double burden of disease to improve the health of people in these geographies and to empower their communities and governments to sustain improved health services for the long term."

The Novartis Foundation is a philanthropic organization pioneering innovative healthcare models that can have a transformational impact on the health of the poorest populations. We work hand-in-hand with our local and global partners to accelerate elimination of leprosy and malaria by focusing on interventions that aim to interrupt transmission, and to catalyze scalable and sustainable healthcare models to improve access and health outcomes. Everything we do is grounded in evidence and innovation, and our work is a continuous cycle of evaluation, adaptation and application. In 2014, the operational budget for the foundation was CHF 12 million and our programs reached 3.6 million people.

Disclaimer
This press release contains expressed or implied forward-looking statements, including statements that can be identified by terminology such as "will," "committed," "to improve," "to empower," "can," "to accelerate," "to improve," or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of the Group 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 expressed or implied by such statements. These expectations could be affected by, among other things, risks and factors referred to in the Risk Factors section of Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update it in the future.

About Novartis
Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2014, the Group achieved net sales of USD 58.0 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.9 billion (USD 9.6 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 120,000 full-time-equivalent associates and sell products in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

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