New agreement replaces Risperdal co-promotion

Arnhem, the Netherlands, March 31, 2005 – Akzo Nobel’s human healthcare business, Organon, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen-Cilag* have mutually agreed to end their co-promotion with regard to the antipsychotic drug Risperdal®. The two companies – who have collaborated on the product since 1993 – have terminated their current arrangement in Europe, Argentina and Brazil and replaced it with a financial agreement.

The need for this new agreement has arisen as a result of Organon’s development of its own antipsychotic products, notably asenapine through an alliance with Pfizer. Asenapine is considered to be a potential competitor of Risperdal when launched. “The original collaboration agreement included a provision that any launch by Organon of a directly competing product would result in automatic termination of Risperdal’s co-promotion activities,” explained Organon’s Executive Vice President, Emile van Dongen. “Although technically this situation has not yet occurred, both parties agreed to implementing a change now.” Added Toon Wilderbeek, President of Organon International and Member of Akzo Nobel’s Board of Management: “We are proud of the fact that since the co-promotion began in 1993, we have made a solid contribution to the success of Risperdal in the co-promotion territory. Over the years, Organon has steadily improved its own knowledge and position in the CNS field and has built up its own solid, well-filled pipeline. We are fully committed to accelerating and consolidating this area of our activities – underlined by our asenapine alliance with Pfizer.” The new agreement has no material impact on Organon’s future royalty income. Upfront payments of EUR 125 million upon signing and EUR 25 million in January 2006, factored into Organon’s 2005 budget, will mitigate higher R&D and pre-marketing costs for various products in the pipeline. * The Janssen-Cilag companies, are a member of the Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) family of companies, and have a long track record in developing and marketing treatments for central nervous system disorders. -----