Novartis announced that the Novartis Board of Directors and Dr. Daniel Vasella have agreed to cancel his non-compete agreement with Novartis and all related conditional compensation. The agreement was to take effect after Dr. Vasella steps down as Chairman of the Board at the Novartis Annual General Meeting on February 22, 2013.Intended to protect the company, the non-compete required that Dr. Vasella refrain from making his knowledge and know-how available to competitors who may take advantage of his experience with the company. Read more here.