Lek visits children at Murska Sobota

“We are very pleased with Lek’s visit and donations. We have not received any donations in the last ten years which were intended directly for the children in order to improve their conditions while they are being treated at our hospital. The opportunity for increased enjoyment as well as education means that we will be able to offer our children a better atmosphere and improved leisure time on the children’s ward. This will make it easier for them to deal with life in the hospital. Since we unfortunately do not have the funds for such activities, at this moment this is the only way we can offer the children more than we have up to now,” said the spokesman for the children’s ward at the hospital in Murska Sobota Dr. Jože Bedernjak.

As in past years, Lek also decided to conduct this year’s campaign throughout Slovenia. This year funds have been earmarked for children’s hospitals and children’s wards at general hospitals in Maribor, Ljubljana, Izola, Brežice, Celje, Jesenice, Murska Sobota, Novo mesto, Slovenj Gradec, Šempeter near Nova Gorica, Trbovlje and Ptuj. In collecting them the primary focus was to make children’s time in hospitals more pleasant and to stimulate their creativity. Therefore in December and January Lek will visit children in hospitals and organize crafts workshops led by skilled leaders, in which the children will make decorative objects from various materials. In addition, Lek will be giving each hospital full-year’s subscriptions to Petka magazine, so that every hospitalized child in 2006 will be able to get their own copy of the magazine, which is designed to stimulate curiosity, the joy of solving various tasks, reading, writing, drawing and logical thinking through a variety of exercises.

“We decided to dedicate this year’s New Year’s campaign to children who have been separated from their loved ones due to their illnesses and hospitalization. We want to make this time as easy as possible for them, so we sincerely hope that these workshops and Petka magazines will help to focus their thoughts on more pleasant aspects of life,” said Andrej Grilc, Head of Sales Slovenia at Lek.

As part of this year’s charity drive, Lek will also be making donations to help furnish the children’s hospitals and wards, with items which these health-care institutions most need in order to provide a more pleasant atmosphere for hospitalized children in the long term. In order to make these gifts as appropriate as possible, they will be selected by the heads of the individual children’s hospitals and wards themselves.

Lek Pharmaceuticals has been improving and maintaining the health and quality of life of children in Slovenia for over 60 years. In many areas is it an active participant in the social sphere, as it takes part in humanitarian and health campaigns and sponsors sports, cultural, educational and research activities.

This year’s New Year’s charity drive represents a further contribution to Lek’s role as a corporate citizen, which is an integral part of its mission. Lek’s role also corresponds with Novartis’ corporate citizenship, which is one of the foundations of the operations of this globally successful pharmaceutical company.

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Lek, a Sandoz company, is one of the pillars of leading world generics company Sandoz. It operates as a global development center for products and technologies, as a global manufacturing center for active pharmaceutical ingredients and medicines, as a competence center for the development of vertically integrated products, as a Sandoz competence center in the field of development and manufacturing of biopharmaceutical products and as a supply center for the markets of CEE, SEE and CIS, sales Slovenia and sales services for Sandoz’s global markets. Lek d.d. employs about 3,037 people in various regions and achieved total sales of USD 746.5 million in 2004. For further information please consult http://www.lek.si

Sandoz, a Division of the Novartis group, is a world leader in generic pharmaceuticals. Sandoz develops and markets a wide variety of active ingredients and finished products, including biopharmaceuticals and anti-infectives. Since June 2005 Hexal AG, Germany, and since July 2005, EonLabs Inc. U.S., are part of Sandoz. In 2004, Sandoz employed around 13,400 people worldwide and posted sales of USD 3.0 billion. The combined businesses had pro forma 2004 sales of USD 5.1 billion and more than 20,000 employees.

Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) is a world leader in pharmaceuticals and consumer health. In 2004, the Group’s businesses achieved net sales of USD 28.2 billion and pro forma net income of USD 5.6 billion. The Group invested approximately USD 4.1 billion in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ about 91,700 people and operate in over 140 countries around the world. For further information please consult http://www.novartis.com.