RECORDATI : ARRIGO RECORDATI INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AWARDED TO VALENTIN FUSTER

Today the fifth edition of the Arrigo Recordati International Prize for Scientific Research ended with EUR 100,000 being awarded to Valentin Fuster, Director of Mount Sinai Heart, New York, United States. The Ceremony took place during the 19th European Meeting on Hypertension 2009.

The Arrigo Recordati International Prize for scientific research was established in 2000 in memory of the Italian pharmaceutical entrepreneur Arrigo Recordati who led the homonymous company through a period of intense growth and development for 48 years until his premature death in February 1999. The Prize recognizes an individual who has demonstrated, through dedication to research, the values recognized by Arrigo Recordati, by granting every two years a prize of 100,000 Euros to a distinguished scientist for his/her commitment and accomplishments in cardiology. Each edition is devoted to a specific theme in the cardiovascular therapeutic field.

The 2009 edition of the Prize was open to scientists of all nationalities working in institutional settings and not affiliated with pharmaceutical or medical device companies. International societies and organizations specializing in the areas of cardiology and internal medicine were invited to nominate candidates that they felt deserved the Lifetime Achievement Award for innovation and advances in imaging diagnostics in heart disease. Self-nominations were not considered.

The Jury panel of the 2009 edition who announced the final decision is composed of experts who have provided leadership throughout their long careers in the fields of cardiology. The jury is chaired by Robert O. Bonow (Goldberg Distinguished Professor, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine; Chief, Division of Cardiology; Co-Director, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA). Members of the Jury are Jeroen J. Bax (Department of Cardiology, Leiden Unversity Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands) and Alessandro Distante (Cardiology Professor, University of Pisa; ISBEM and IFC-CMR, Pisa, Brindisi and Lecce, Italia).

Professor Bonow, on behalf of the Jury, officially awarded the winner with the following motivation: "The Recordati Prize recognizes Valentin Fuster for his outstanding and innovative contributions in the field of cardiovascular imaging".

The winner, after expressing his satisfaction for the important award, gave a brief Lecture aimed at summarizing his research in the field of Imaging diagnostics.

Valentin Fuster developed a highly productive multidisciplinary research team, his innovative contributions are a novel integration of multimodality imaging methods, and groundbreaking research in applying imaging tools to reveal fundamental mechanisms of vascular disease.

Finally, Giovanni Recordati, Arrigo Recordati's son and current Chairman and CEO of the Company, renewed the Company's strong commitment to research and officially announced that the theme chosen for the 2011 edition of the Prize is: "Prenatal congenital heart disease".

Cardiac malformations are common developmental anomalies: approximately 1% of all live-born infants have a heart defect. Congenital heart disease is the number one cause of infant mortality in the first year after birth.

Over the past 100 years, the development of sophisticated technologies has facilitated dramatic changes in the practice of cardiology for patients of all ages and any sort of heart disease. The ability of the cardiologist to make therapeutic decisions has increased significantly and with it also the outcome of the diseases. On the other hand, cardiac development occurs very early in gestation, during the first seven weeks, and the cause of most heart defects may remain unknown: it may or may not be associated with other anomalies, or with genetic syndromes, or chromosomal abnormalities. Prenatal cardiac lesions may undergo progression in utero such that, with our current technology, they may be indistinguishable from the normal fetal heart early in gestation. Standard prenatal ultrasound may fail to show the presence of congenital heart disease in most fetuses. Thus, the development of adequate means for the diagnosis and observation of prenatal congenital heart disease remains a highly relevant medical goal. A correct and accurate prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease would have a significant positive impact on the clinical outcome of patients, including the incidence of congenital cardiac malformations, the natural history of cardiac defects during gestation, and the daily counseling of families. The Arrigo Recordati Prize in its next edition of 2011 will seek to identify a leading contributor in this highly relevant medical area."

About Recordati

Recordati, established in 1926, is a European pharmaceutical group, listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, with a total staff of over 2,900, dedicated to the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals. It has headquarters in Milan, Italy, operations in the main European countries, and a growing presence in the new markets of Central and Eastern Europe. A European field force of over 1,400 medical representatives promotes a wide range of innovative pharmaceuticals, both proprietary and under license, in a number of therapeutic areas including a specialized business dedicated to treatments for rare diseases. Recordati's current and growing coverage of the European pharmaceutical market makes it a partner of choice for new product licenses from companies which do not have European marketing organizations. Recordati is committed to the research and development of new drug entities within the cardiovascular and urogenital therapeutic areas and of treatments for rare diseases.

For more information on the International Prize Arrigo Recordati, please contact the Organizing Secretariat: AIM Group - AIM Congress (Ms Mara Carletti or Dafne Sfoggia) Tel. +39 02 56601.1, Fax +39 02 56609045 - E-mail: recordatiprize2009@aimgroup.it or visit www.recordati.com/prize.

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