The World Heart Federation, sanofi-aventis and Boehringer Ingelheim Announce Collaboration on Worldwide AF Awareness Campaign

GENEVA, February 15, 2011 - The World Heart Federation, sanofi-aventis and Boehringer
Ingelheim have announced their collaboration on the AF AWARE (Atrial
Fibrillation AWareness And Risk Education) campaign today, to raise awareness
of atrial fibrillation (AF) and its links to severe consequences including
cardiovascular (CV) mortality, stroke and CV hospitalizations. The campaign
aims to promote education around the risks associated with AF as well as
highlight the importance of early diagnosis and comprehensive management to
maximize patient outcomes.

"AF is a growing public health issue, affecting not only the
patients who live with the condition, but also their families and the
healthcare systems in the countries where they live. Yet research shows there
is a perceived lack of awareness and understanding of this condition," said
Johanna Ralston, Chief Executive Officer, World Heart Federation. "The AF
AWARE campaign was established to specifically address the lack of awareness
and endeavours to draw attention to this serious, chronic, disease, the
consequences of which can have devastating effects on patients and healthcare
systems."

"Despite the fact that the complications of AF can be severe,
for many people living with AF, the condition has very little noticeable
impact on their lives, and in some cases goes undiagnosed and untreated,
resulting in strokes that could be prevented. Up to three million people
worldwide suffer strokes related to AF each year, with half of patients dying
within 12 months," said Klaus Dugi, Corporate Senior Vice President Medicine,
Boehringer Ingelheim. "We are delighted to support the AF AWARE campaign in
2011, as it is critical that effective action is taken now for individuals
living with AF and their families, to ensure the optimal management of the
condition, reducing the number of strokes related to AF."

A recent report found that the lives of thousands of people
living with AF could be at risk due to delay in time to diagnosis, poor
adherence to treatment guidelines and lack of information for patients
suffering from this debilitating heart condition.[1] People living with AF
have a lower quality of life than healthy individuals,[2],[3] as AF is also
frequently associated with multiple CV co-morbidities which can adversely
affect a patient's long-term outcomes. AF carries a four-to five-fold
increased risk of stroke and is associated with a high risk of CV events [3]
and hospitalization. Using data from 10,000 AF patients, the REALISE AF
registry showed that about 29per cent of AF patients had a CV event leading
to unplanned hospitalization in the last 12 months.[4]

"Atrial fibrillation is a major cause of morbidity and
mortality which contributes to a substantial public health burden" said
Nazira Amra, M.D., Associate Vice President, Global Anti-Arrhythmics
Strategy, sanofi-aventis. "Sanofi-aventis has been supporting AF AWARE since
its inception and we are delighted to continue this global initiative in
collaboration with the World Heart Federation and Boehringer Ingelheim in
order to raise AF awareness and promote better access to information for
patients, their caregivers and health care providers."

The World Heart Federation will lead the initiative
internationally and will also work closely with SAFE (Stroke Alliance for
Europe) and the Atrial Fibrillation Association (AFA), to deliver the
programme. Agreements have been established with sanofi-aventis and
Boehringer Ingelheim for a co-sponsorship.

The activities of the AF AWARE campaign are supported by funding from
both sanofi-aventis and Boehringer Ingelheim.

Notes to Editor

About Atrial Fibrillation (AF)

AF results from abnormal electrical activity in the upper
chambers of the heart (atria), leading to an irregular heart rhythm which
prevents the blood from efficiently being pumped toward the rest of the
body.[5] Common symptoms of AF include palpitations (a rapid, irregular,
"flopping" movement or pounding sensation in the chest), shortness of breath,
dizziness and feeling of heaviness in the chest.[6] Age, obesity,
hypertension, myocardial infarction (MI), congestive heart failure (CHF) and
valvular heart diseases [7] put patients at increased risk of developing AF
and AF itself worsens the prognosis of patients with risk factors for
cardiovascular diseases such as stroke or myocardial infarction.[6],[8]

About the AF AWARE campaign

The AF AWARE (Atrial Fibrillation AWareness And Risk
Education) campaign dedicated to gaining greater recognition of atrial
fibrillation (AF) as a major international public health concern through
exposing current misperceptions of the condition and focusing attention on
the realities of the disease. The campaign calls for urgent steps to be taken
to improve the diagnosis and care of patients with AF and the prevention of
associated cardiovascular conditions. AF AWARE was launched in 2009 by the
World Heart Federation, the Stroke Alliance For Europe, the Atrial
Fibrillation Association and the European Heart Rhythm Association. Initially
supported by a sponsorship from sanofi-aventis, it is now also supported by
Boehringer Ingelheim.

About the World Heart Federation

The World Heart Federation is dedicated to leading the global
fight against heart disease and stroke with a focus on low- and middle-income
countries via a united community of more than 200 member organizations. With
its members, the World Heart Federation works to build global commitment to
addressing cardiovascular health at the policy level, generates and exchanges
ideas, shares best practice, advances scientific knowledge and promotes
knowledge transfer to tackle cardiovascular disease - the world's number one
killer. It is a growing membership organization that brings together the
strength of medical societies and heart foundations from more than 100
countries. Through our collective efforts we can help people all over the
world to lead longer and better heart-healthy lives.
www.worldheart.org

About sanofi-aventis

Sanofi-aventis, a leading global pharmaceutical company,
discovers, develops and distributes therapeutic solutions to improve the
lives of everyone. Sanofi-aventis is listed in Paris (EURONEXT: SAN) and in
New York (NYSE: SNY). For more information, please visit
www.sanofi-aventis.com.

About Boehringer Ingelheim

The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20
leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it
operates globally with 142 affiliates in 50 countries and more than 41,500
employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been
committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel
products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine. In
2009, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 12.7 billion euro while
spending 21% of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription
Medicines on research and development.

Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to improving cardiovascular health
worldwide through research into cardiovascular disease and the development of
new treatments in the area as well as by raising awareness of cardiovascular
health conditions such as atrial fibrillation. In addition to partnering in
the AF AWARE campaign, Boehringer Ingelheim launched 1 Million 1 Million -
Getting to the Heart of Stroke (www.heartofstroke.com) in 2010, a
global disease awareness initiative that aims to prevent as many as 1
million atrial fibrillation-related strokes.

For more information about Boehringer Ingelheim, please visit
www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

References

[1] Barham, L. Atrial Fibrillation in Europe: How AWARE are you?,
November 2010, last accessed
www.world-heart-federation.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/AF-Awar
e/AFAwareReport23nov2010.pdf, 09.02.11

[2] Dorian P et al. The impairment of health-related quality of life in
patients with intermittent atrial fibrillation: implications for the
assessment of investigational therapy JACC, 2000;36:1303-1309. Last accessed
at: content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/reprint/36/4/1303.pdf, 07.02.2011

[3] PA Wolf, RD Abbott and WB Kannel. Atrial fibrillation as an
independent risk factor for stroke: the Framingham Study. Stroke
1991;22;983-988. Last accessed:
stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/22/8/983, 07.02.2011

[4] Steg G. Realise AF cross sectional registry. ESC 2010, Last accessed
spo.escardio.org/eslides/view.aspx?eevtid=40&fp=5080, 09.02.11

[5] The Task Force for the Management of Atrial Fibrillation of the
European Society of Cardiology (ESC), Guidelines for the management of atrial
fibrillation, European Heart Journal (2010) 31, 2369-2429. URL:
www.escardio.org/guidelines-

[6] Benjamin E.J. et al., Impact of Atrial Fibrillation on the Risk of
Death: The Framingham Heart Study. Circulation 1998;98:946-952

[7] Benjamin E.J. et al., Prevention of atrial fibrillation: report from
a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute workshop. Circulation
2009;119(4): 606-618

[8] Wachtell, K. et al., Angiotensin II receptor blockade reduces
new-onset atrial fibrillation and subsequent stroke compared to atenolol,
Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2005;45(5):712-719

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For more information, please contact: Charanjit Jagait, Director of Communications, World Heart Federation, Tel: +41-22-807-0334, Email: charanjit.jagait at worldheart.org Dafni Kokkidi, Weber Shandwick, Tel: +44-207-067-0245, Email: dkokkidi at webershandwick.com