Novartis gains NDA approval for FTY720 in the US

September 28, 2010 PRESS RELEASE Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation Novartis gains NDA approval for FTY720 in the US Novartis (head office: Basel, Switzerland) announced on September 22, 2010, that the company obtained NDA approval in the United States for FTY720 (generic name: fingolimod), sphingosine 1-phosph ate (S1P) receptor modul ator, which the company has developed as a treatment for relapsi ng forms of multiple sclerosis (MS). FTY720 is the world's first S1P receptor modul ator that was discovered by a chemical structural modification of a natural substance which was derived from a type of fungi known in Chinese and Japanese as "winter-insect-su mmer-plants," in a joint research project conducted by Tetsuro FUJITA, a professor em eritus at Kyoto University, Yoshitomi Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd. (present Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation; head office: Osaka, Japan) and others. On S eptember 22, 1997, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma licensed the development and mark eting rights of the compound out to Novartis for the entire world excluding Japan. In Japan, Novartis Pharma K. K. (head office: Tokyo, Japan) and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma are currently conducting a joint development (Phase 2) for MS. Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma is actively pursuing the devel opment, together with Novartis Pharma, so as to obtain manufacturing and marketing approval at the earliest possible time. <Media enquiry> Corporate Communications Department Phone: +81 6-6205-5211

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