August 3, 2006: Company and People Notes

Company Notes

Adams Respiratory Therapeutics, Inc. (Chester, NJ, www.adamsrt.com) entered into an agreement with Cardinal Health (Dublin, OH, www.cardinal.com) to buy back the Fort Worth, Texas facility that Cardinal purchased from Adams in 2004. Adams will pay approximately $28 million for the facility, $24 million of which will be paid on or about the July 31 closing date. The remainder will be paid quarterly during fiscal year 2007. The facility is used as the primary manufacturing and packaging facility for "Musinex" and "Humibid" products.

Hollister-Stier Laboratories, LLC (Spokane, WA, www.hollister-stier.com) has acquired a 7-acre parcel of land located directly behind its facility in Spokane, Washington. The land will provide space for the $30-million expansion scheduled to begin this fall as well as for future infrastructure. The expansion will include the installation of a new cleanroom complex and a high-speed filling line that will more than double current capacity.

Merck Sharp & Dohme Technology Singapore Pte Ltd. (MSD, Singapore, www.msd-singapore-ltd.com), a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ, www.merck.com), dedicated a S$100 million expansion of its production facilities in Singapore. The new facilites are scheduled to open in late 2006 and will be used for the manufacture of new medicines that are currently in late-stage development.

NPIL Pharma (Mumbai, India, www.npilpharma.com) will expand its facility in Grangemouth, Scotland, for manufacturing high-potency active ingredients. The expansion includes recruitment of 16 additional technical and operation staff and investment of roughly $500,000 in containment upgrades. The new hardware will bring more CGMP capacity for clinical trial materials on stream by the end of 2006. The Grangemouth facility was part of the December 2005 acquisition of the former Avecia pharmaceutical business by NPIL.

PaR Systems, Inc. (Shoreview, MN, www.par.com) has purchased SSI Robotics (Tustin, CA, www.ssirobotics.com) from its bankruptcy sales process. SSI will form the core of PaR Systems's new Life Sciences Automation product line, which will focus on biotechnology, laboratory, medical, and pharmaceutical applications. This acquisition will give PaR Systems access to the life-science market and provide SSI Robotics with expanded automation and robotics expertise.

Phyton Biotech, Inc. (East Windsor, NJ, www.phytonbiotech.com) has agreed to use its CGMP plant cell fermentation technology to develop a manufacturing process that could be used to meet the future demand of Insmed Incorporated’s (Glen Allen, VA, www.insmed.com) "IPLEX" therapy as its use expands into broader therapeutic indications. IPLEX is the only once-daily IGF-I replacement therapy and the only FDA-approved therapy that provides both rhlGF-I and rhlGFBP-3 to treat children with severe primary IGFD. It is currently being investigated for various other indications with unmet medical needs such as extreme insulin resistance, myotonic muscular dystrophy, and HIV Associated Adipose Redistribution Syndrome.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, Bethesda, MD, www3.niaid.nih.gov/), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), awarded XOMA Ltd. (Berkeley, CA, www.xoma.com) an exclusive $16-milion contract to produce monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of botulism to protect US citizens against the botulinum neurotoxins used in bioterrorism. NIAID previously granted XOMA a $15-million contract to initiate the program. Under the new contract, XOMA will create and produce an injectable product comprised of three anti-type A-botulinum neurotoxin monoclonal antibodies.

People Notes

Gerald D. Sakowski has been promoted to senior vice-president of business operations with Metrics, Inc. (Greenville, NC, www.metricsinc.com). In this position, he will oversee all of the company's operations and focus on continued growth through business development. He joined Metrics, Inc. in 1997 and previously served with Oneida research Services and Applied Analytical Industries.

Moda Technology Partners (Moda, Fort Washington, PA, www.modatp.com) announced that James P. Agalloco is joining its board of advisors. Agalloco is currently the president of Agalloco & Associates, a company that provides a range of technical services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. As part of Moda's board of advisors, Agalloco will provide insight into the regulatory, operational, and technological issues that the company's clients are facing.

Pfizer, Inc. (New York, NY, www.pfizer.com) appointed Jeffrey B. Kindler as chief executive officer. He will assume his position in Feburary 2007. Kindler joined the company in 2002 as senior vice-president and general counsel. He currently serves as vice-chairman and general counsel.

Steven M. Niedelman has joined Quintiles Consulting (Research Triangle Park, NC, www.quintiles.com) as executive vice-president. In this role, he will be responsible for all operations at Quintiles Consulting. Before joining Quintiles, Niedelman was the deputy associate commissioner for regulatory operations for the US Food and Drug Administration.

Joseph J. Villafranca, PhD, has joined Tunnell Consulting, Inc. (King of Prussia, PA, www.tunnellconsulting.com) to direct its pharmaceuticals and life sciences practice and assist in the firm's pandemic flu preparedness work with the US Department of Health and Human Services. Before joinng Tunnell Consulting, Villafranca led Biopharmaceutical Consultants. He also served as executive vice-president of pharmaceutical development and operations with Neose Technologies.