Sanofi Pasteur Commends Saudi Arabia for Being Declared Polio-Free

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- Sanofi Pasteur Recognized as a key Contributor to Polio Eradication Efforts

Sanofi pasteur (NYSE: SNY), the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, commends the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for being declared a polio-free country by the World Health Organization (WHO). The announcement was made Saturday March 3rd, during an official ceremony in Riyadh under the patronage of the Saudi Minister of Health Dr. Hamad Bin Abdullah Al Maneh.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been successfully implementing a polio eradication program since 1989 with vaccination coverage of over 95% of children born every year and no indigenous wild polio cases since 1995.

Sanofi pasteur is the main provider of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and a partner to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the eradication of this devastating disease. During the ceremony, sanofi pasteur was recognized as one of the key contributors to polio eradication efforts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and awarded with a commemorative plaque as a sign of appreciation.

In the rest of the world, sanofi pasteur is an historical partner to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative launched by the WHO in 1988:

- Since 1988, sanofi pasteur has been a leading provider of OPV, supplying over 600 million vaccine doses in 2006, helping to reduce the number of polio cases by 99% with an estimated five million people escaping paralysis (1).

- In 2005, sanofi pasteur developed a novel Monovalent Oral Polio Vaccine 1 or MOPV1 following urgent requests from the WHO. Fifty million doses of MOPV 1 were used for the polio eradication campaign in Egypt. As a result, Egypt was declared polio-free by the WHO in February 2006 (2).

- Since 1997 sanofi pasteur has donated over 120 million doses of polio vaccine to developing countries.

The commitment of sanofi pasteur to fight poliomyelitis can be traced back to the 1950s with the development of a novel growth method for the virus used for the first polio vaccine, the Salk Vaccine, which led to the first mass immunization campaigns in the United States.

Today, sanofi pasteur remains at the forefront of polio eradication with inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and oral polio vaccine (OPV).

About Polio

Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause severe paralysis. The virus enters the body through the mouth and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness in the neck, and pain in the limbs. One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralyzed, 5-10% dies when their breathing muscles become immobilized. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age. In 1994, the Region of the Americas was certified polio-free by the World Health Organization, followed by the Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the European Region in 2002; however, worldwide efforts are continuing towards global eradication of this contagious and devastating disease.

About sanofi-aventis

Sanofi-aventis is one of the world leaders in the pharmaceutical industry, ranking number one in Europe. Backed by a world-class R&D organisation, sanofi-aventis is developing leading positions in seven major therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, thrombosis, oncology, metabolic diseases, central nervous system, internal medicine and vaccines. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in New York (NYSE: SNY).

Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines business of the sanofi-aventis Group, sold more than a billion doses of vaccine in 2006, making it possible to protect more than 500 million people across the globe. The company offers the broadest range of vaccines, providing protection against 20 bacterial and viral diseases. For more information, please visit: www.sanofipasteur.com

(1) World Health Organization, Immunization against diseases of public importance. Fact sheet no288, March 2005, http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs288/en/index.html

(2) UNICEF, Egypt is now polio-free http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/egypt_30860.html

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts. These statements include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future events, operations, products and services, and statements regarding future performance. Forward-looking statements are generally identified by the words "expect," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "plans" and similar expressions. Although sanofi-aventis' management believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, investors are cautioned that forward-looking information and statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of sanofi-aventis, that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied or projected by, the forward-looking information and statements. These risks and uncertainties include those discussed or identified in the public filings with the SEC and the AMF made by sanofi-aventis, including those listed under "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" in sanofi-aventis' annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2005. Other than as required by applicable law, sanofi-aventis does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information or statements.

sanofi pasteur sanofi pasteur Ramzi Mushrek Tel : [phone] Pascal Barollier Len Lavenda International Media Relations U.S. Media Relations Tel: + 33-(0)4-37-37-51-41 Tel: [phone] [e-mail] [e-mail]