Press Release December 8, 2004

21st Century Solutions Designed To Meet 21st Century Challenges

Cognet-X Inc.: Managed Care Executives: Novartis Best Meets Needs, Pfizer and Solvay Now Among Top Corporations, Cognet-X Inc. Reports

FEASTERVILLE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 8, 2004--Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. retained its first-place ranking and two corporations emerged as first-time, top-10 corporations in meeting the overall needs of managed care pharmacy executives, Cognet-X Inc. reported today.

For the fifth consecutive reporting period, Novartis ranked first in the Overall Needs category of the twice-yearly Corporate Assessment Total Rankings component of Cognet-X's PAR-Rx (Promotional Assessment Research) Report(TM). These results are for the third-quarter reporting cycle.

PAR-Rx panelists, who are among the most influential pharmacy directors in the country, credited Novartis' account personnel and other staff as professionals who "always get it done."

"The regional account manager, clinical liaison, district manager and regional director work closely with us to meet our needs whenever possible," one panelist commented. Said another: "Even as a new regional account manager has come on board, the level of service with Novartis continues to be excellent."

Pfizer Inc. and Solvay SA Group ranked within the top 10 corporations in the Overall Needs category for the first time in the 4-year history of the PAR-Rx Report. Pfizer tied with Amgen Inc. for ninth place; Pfizer ranked 27th in the 1Q 2004 assessment period.

Several pharmacy directors told Cognet-X that Pfizer had taken significant steps to improve its relationships with managed care organizations. "Pfizer has been trying to work better with us and has been successful. They have been more willing to work with us...and have become very competitive in our market," one panelist said.

"The (Pfizer) account team has made efforts to become more proactive and better educated about our plan and its needs," another pharmacy executive reported to Cognet-X.

Solvay, ranked 18th in 1Q 2004, received positive comments for "providing good, non-product-specific health care information that is member-oriented and that we can use for our drug utilization reviews," as one executive noted. Solvay tied for 10th with Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals.

Solvay also garnered several compliments about its account personnel, noting that they understood managed care executives' needs and worked hard to partner with their customers.

According to Cognet-X Chief Strategist Bryna Elder-Munro, "The healthy increases in ranking for Pfizer and Solvay indicate the sensitivity of the PAR-Rx Report's twice-annual assessments. Pharmaceutical companies that change their strategy or enhance existing strategies can use PAR-Rx to see the difference in their customers' perception in 3 to 6 months--and to gain further insight into those perceptions."

The top 10 pharmaceutical corporations in the Overall Needs category for 3Q 2004 were:

1) Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.

2) GlaxoSmithKline

3) Wyeth

4) AstraZeneca PLC

5) Sanofi-Aventis

6) Merck & Co. Inc. and The Proctor & Gamble Co. (tie)

7) Genentech Inc.

8) Forest Laboratories Inc.

9) Amgen Inc. and Pfizer Inc. (tie)

10) Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals and Solvay SA Group

About the PAR-Rx Report

Cognet-X's PAR-Rx Report is a year-round service that provides the pharmaceutical industry with real-time, Internet-based competitive intelligence on pharmaceutical company promotion to influential managed care pharmacy directors.

The Report offers Cognet-X clients the ability to evaluate and analyze variable differences that are critically important to their decision-making process. The Report collects comprehensive data that can be segmented and analyzed to provide clients with "21st-Century solutions to their 21st-Century challenges."

About Cognet-X

Cognet-X offers the pharmaceutical industry market research, consulting and software development that help companies build and refine their relationships with numerous customer bases, including the managed care community. Based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Cognet-X is privately held and employee-owned.

Contacts

Cognet-X Inc.
Andrew Wright, 215-396-8300 ext. 159
andreww@cognetx.com
or
Bryna Elder-Munro, 215-396-8300 ext. 123
brynae@cognetx.com

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