Eyefinity and CIBA Vision Announce E-Commerce Partnership

CIBA Vision to Offer Products Online at Eyefinity.com

FOLSOM, Calif., August 9, 2002 -- Eyefinity, the optical industry's most widely used Internet portal, and CIBA Vision, the eye care unit of Novartis AG, today announced an e-commerce partnership. CIBA Vision will offer its broad range of contact lenses for purchase on eyefinity.com beginning in fall 2002.

"CIBA Vision is pleased to be working with Eyefinity as they continue to expand their business services portal," said Steve Osbaldeston, president of CIBA Vision North America. "Eyefinity.com offers practitioners an efficient and convenient method of obtaining innovative product offerings from CIBA Vision."

"We're excited to add the CIBA Vision product line to our current host of optical suppliers," said Don Yee, CEO of Eyefinity. "More and more, private practice providers depend on one comprehensive resource for their business needs, and ordering products online from manufacturers provides a convenient and efficient way to manage products in the office. We look forward to offering both practitioners and their patients outstanding values on the purchase of annual supplies of CIBA Vision products including the opportunity for free direct-to-patient delivery."

CIBA Vision joins other Eyefinity manufacturing partners such as Altair, OSI and Sola, as well as Dell and Office Depot.

Eyefinity, in conjunction with industry-leading partners, provides e-commerce, marketing and business management solutions to the private practice eye care community. Through the services of eyefinity.com, eye care professionals can order products and lab materials, process online insurance claims, and create practice Web sites. Eyefinity serves over 17,500 private eye care practices and 320 labs, and processes more than 25 million transactions a year. For more information visit www.eyefinity.com.

With worldwide headquarters in Atlanta, CIBA Vision is a global leader in research, development and manufacturing of optical and ophthalmic products and services, including contact lenses, lens care products and ophthalmic surgical products. CIBA Vision products are available in more than 70 countries. For more information, visit the CIBA Vision Web site at www.cibavision.com.