PDI, Inc., a healthcare sales and marketing company, announced that it has received notification from Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, the US pharmaceuticals affiliate of Novartis AG, that it will be terminating its sales programme in support of Diovan and Lotrel. The programme, comprised of approximately 300 representatives, will terminate on March 16, 2004.

PDI has taken steps to make the company more flexible and better able to react to sudden contract terminations. As a result, the company has improved its ability to reduce the impact of such events on its overall business. Due to its ability to reduce expenses related to this field sales team and to postpone certain discretionary spending initiatives, PDI is maintaining its previous earnings per share guidance of $1.15 to $1.25 for 2004.

Steven Budd, president of PDI's Global Sales and Marketing Services Group, said, "Novartis' decision to end our fee for service agreement is not a function of performance related issues. We are proud of the contributions we have made to Novartis over the last three years, and look forward to working with them again in the future."