Addrenex Pharmaceuticals to be acquired by Sciele Pharma

Nov 16 2009

Sciele Pharma, Inc.:

• Provides Sciele with two mid-stage development products
• Access to a large library of compounds with potential indications in a number of therapeutic areas, including dermatology and pain management

Sciele Pharma, Inc. (Head Office: Atlanta, Georgia, USA; President and CEO: Patrick P. Fourteau; hereafter “Sciele”), a U.S.-based group company of Shionogi & Co., Ltd. (Head Office: Osaka; President: Isao Teshirogi; hereafter “Shionogi”) and Addrenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Head Office: Durham, North Carolina, USA; CEO: Moise A Khayrallah; hereafter “Addrenex”), a privately-held U.S. pharmaceutical company specializing in developing drugs that regulate the adrenergic system, today announced that Sciele has agreed to acquire Addrenex. The acquisition is in the form of cash, payable at closing. The total value of the deal is approximately $29 million to acquire the outstanding shares of Addrenex, excluding those previously owned by Sciele.

Sciele previously licensed three products from Addrenex – Clonicel for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Jenloga XR (once-daily clonidine) for hypertension. The New Drug Application (NDA) for Clonicel was filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October 2009. In addition, Sciele licensed rights to ADX-415 for the treatment of vasomotor systems and hypertension.

The acquisition of Addrenex will provide Sciele with two additional mid-stage development products and access to a large library of compounds in numerous therapeutic areas, including pain management, cardiovascular, and dermatology.

Patrick Fourteau, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sciele Pharma, said, “We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Addrenex, a company with which we established a partnership more than two years ago. Addrenex has an exciting development platform and several compounds that have the potential to further expand and diversify our product portfolio.”

Moise Khayrallah, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Addrenex Pharmaceuticals, said, “Sciele Pharma has been a valuable partner and catalyst for the success of Addrenex. The partnership has enabled our team to expand the development pipeline and now gives Sciele access to a large portfolio of products that offer tremendous promise for patients and their families.”

Shionogi and Sciele are committed to providing products and investing in research and development in target therapeutic areas including cardiovascular that will benefit patients in Japan and in the U.S.