Mar 27, 2002
Guidant Licenses Everolimus from Novartis for Drug Eluting Stents

Agreement with Novartis Pharma AG Broadens Guidant's Drug Eluting Stent Program Company to Host Webcast/Conference Call Today

Indianapolis - Novartis Pharma AG and Guidant Corporation announced today that the companies have entered into a worldwide co-exclusive license agreement granting Guidant rights to utilize the drug everolimus in drug eluting stents for the treatment of coronary and peripheral vascular diseases.

Novartis will provide everolimus to Guidant, supply data to support Guidant filings with regulatory agencies, and receive milestone payments and a royalty on sales of Guidant products utilizing the drug. Pending regulatory approvals, Guidant expects to initiate clinical trials of everolimus-eluting coronary stents around the end of this year.

"Guidant is committed to leadership in the drug eluting stent market through multiple programs, and we are excited about this promising path of bringing innovative drug eluting stent therapy to physicians and patients," said Ronald W. Dollens, president and CEO, Guidant Corporation. "We are enthusiastic about working with Novartis and pleased about this new relationship that strengthens and broadens our drug eluting stent program."

Everolimus is a new investigational drug in the same family as rapamycin. Rapamycin has shown early promise in clinical trials of drug eluting stents. Guidant and Novartis have independently observed positive results in animal studies evaluating the effectiveness of everolimus for the prevention of restenosis. Guidant's evaluation of the compound in pre-clinical tests utilized the company's proprietary polymer elution technology for drug eluting stents.

Guidant's everolimus-eluting stents will leverage Guidant's market-leading position, proprietary technologies, broad patent portfolio and proven stent designs.

"We welcome this opportunity to collaborate with Guidant on medical innovations that may offer new hope to patients with heart disease," said Thomas Ebeling, CEO, Novartis Pharma AG.

Novartis has completed phase III human clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of Certican(tm), an orally administered drug containing everolimus, for the prevention of organ rejection in renal and heart transplant recipients.

Guidant continues to make excellent progress in drug eluting stents and is enthusiastic about the paclitaxel-coated ACHIEVE(tm) Drug Eluting Coronary Stent System. Patient enrollment in the U.S. DELIVER clinical trial was recently completed in less than four months. The DELIVER trial is designed to serve as the basis for submission for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the ACHIEVE Stent System. Guidant expects eight-month angiographic and nine-month clinical follow-up data on the DELIVER patients to be complete by the end of this year.

The new ACHIEVE Stent System, manufactured by Cook Incorporated and to be distributed worldwide exclusively by Guidant, is expected to be available in international markets by mid-year.

Conference Call/Webcast

Guidant will conduct a live webcast today, Wednesday, March 27, at 5:30 p.m. EST. The live webcast of Guidant's conference call will be accessible through Guidant's website at www.guidant.com/webcast or at CCBN's individual investor center at www.companyboardroom.com. The webcast will be archived on both websites for future on-demand replay.

The call will be hosted by Guidant's President and CEO Ronald W. Dollens and will focus on today's announcement as well as the company's latest cardiac rhythm management product developments. Also participating on the call will be John M. Capek, Ph.D., president, Vascular Intervention, and Fred McCoy, president, Cardiac Rhythm Management, Guidant.

Guidant Corporation (NYSE and PCX: GDT) pioneers lifesaving technology, giving an opportunity for better life today to 8 million cardiac and vascular patients worldwide. The company, driven by a strong entrepreneurial culture of more than 10,000 employees, develops, manufactures and markets a broad array of products and services that enable less invasive care for some of life's most threatening medical conditions.

This release includes forward-looking statements concerning drug-eluting stents, including statements relating to the timing of regulatory processes and the successful commercialization of stents. The forward-looking statements are based on assumptions about many important factors, including progress in product development, the results of pre-clinical and clinical trials, regulatory approvals, litigation and other factors listed on exhibit 99 to Guidant's most recent 10-K on file with the SEC. As such, they involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. The companies do not undertake to update the forward-looking statements.