We wish to extend our thanks to Nikos Economopoulos for the interesting and emotional photographs used in this report.

Equally, we would like to thank everyone who contributed to this report by sharing personal experience and knowledge with us.

Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

This Annual Report contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 of the United States. These forward looking statements relate to our business and the business segments in which we and our subsidiaries and interests operate. Many of these statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believe”, “expect”, “may”, “are expected to”, “will”, “will continue”, “should”, “would be”, “seek” or “anticipate” or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. These statements include descriptions of our investment and research and development programs, descriptions of new products we expect to introduce and anticipated customer demand for our products. The forward-looking statements made in this Annual Report reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by these statements. Some of these factors include inability to discover and register new products, competition in general, loss of patent protection, price controls, product liability claims, exposure to environmental liabilities, interruption of supply and foreign exchange risks. For a more detailed description of the risks facing our Group, we encourage you to review the Form 20-F filed with the United States 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 described in this Annual Report as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. We do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set out in this Annual Report. All product names printed in italics in this Annual Report are trademarks of the Novartis Group.

® in combination with products in normal script indicate third party brands. The business policy of Novartis takes into account the OECD’s Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, with their recommendations on the disclosure of information.

Our Annual Report is originally published in English, with French and German versions available.

Published by Novartis International AG, Basel, Switzerland

Photography by Nikos Economopoulos.
Nikos Economopoulos was born in the Peloponnese, Greece. He studied law in Parma, Italy, and worked as a journalist for Greek daily papers and magazines for many years. He began taking photographs in 1979, and until 1988 practiced photography as an amateur. He abandoned journalism in that year to devote himself to photography and for the next two years travelled through Greece and Turkey taking pictures. In 1990 he joined Magnum, and his photographs began to appear in newspapers and magazines around the world. 1994 brought full membership of Magnum Photos. Since 1995, Nikos Economopoulos has published several books. The most recent is a retrospective based on selected images of his 20 years of work on photography, commissioned by the Benaki Museum in Athens and published in 2002. He received the Mother Jones Award (San Francisco, California) for work in progress in 1990, and the Ipektsi Award for peace and friendship between the Greek and Turkish people in 2001. The photographs of Nikos Economopoulos have been published in newspapers and magazines, such as The New York Times, Le Monde, Liberation, The Independent, Die Zeit, El Pais, The Guardian, The Observer, De Morgen and Il Giornale, and have been exhibited in many countries around the world.

Design and project management by Com.factory, Basel, Switzerland

Printed by Birkhäuser+GBC AG, Reinach, Switzerland

© Novartis AG, 2004

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