May 11, 2006: Company and People News

CompanyNews

Johnson & Johnson (NewBrunswick, NJ, www.jnj.com)plans to divide its pharmaceutical group into three major disease ortherapeutic groups that each have their own research and developmentfunction.  

Electronic-mesurementinstrument maker Mesa Labs (Lakewood,CO, www.mesalabs.com)acquired Raven BiologicalLaboratories (Omaha, NE, www.ravenlabs.com), a manufacturer of biologicalindicators and provider of sterilization validation services. Under theterms of the transaction, Mesa acquired all outstanding shares of Ravenfor approximately $6,750,000 in cash and common stock.

Mar Cor Purification (Little Falls,NJ, www.marcorpurification.com)purchased the assets of FluidSolutions, Inc. (Lowell, MA, www.fluid-solutions.com)and plans to retain all FluidSolutions employees.

The US Food and Drug Administration(Rockville, MD, www.fda.gov)approved a supplemental biologics license application for the licensureof Lonza Biologics Inc.(Basel, Switzerland, www.lonza.com)as a third-party manufacturing partner to support increased productioncapacity for abatacept, the active ingredient in Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's(Princeton, NJ, www.bms.com)"Orencia."

Andrx Corporation (FortLauderdale, FL, www.andrx.com)is finalizing its response to a Form 483 issued April18, 2006 by the US Food and DrugAdministration (Rockville, MD, www.fda.gov) following an FDA inspection of thecompany's manufacturing facility in Davie, Florida. Andrx says itsresponse primarilywilladdress ongoing and planned improvements to enhance two qualitysystems. Separately, Andrx and WatsonPharmaceuticals Inc. (Corona, CA, www.watsonpharma.com)received requests for additional information from the US Federal Trade Commission(Washington, DC, www.ftc.gov)in connection with Watson's pending $1.9-billion acquisition of Andrx.

Spirax Sarco, Inc. (Blythewood, SC,www.spiraxsarco.com) purchased Advanced Flow Technology Company(Lakeland, FL, www.advancedflow.com)and will merge into Spirax's EMCO DlowSystems division.

Akorn, Inc. (Buffalo Grove, IL, www.akorn.com) signeda commerical manufacturing supply agreement with X-Gen Pharmaceuticals (Big Flats,NY, www.x-gen.us)for its "Neomycin" and "Polymyxin B" sulfates solution for irrigationUSP.

Clinicalresearch organization Kendle (Cincinnati,OH, www.kendle.com.)signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Phases II?IV clinicalservices business of Charles RiverLaboratories International (Wilmington, MA, www.criver.com),creatingthe world's fourth largest provider of Phase II?IV clinical-developmentservices. Kendle will purchase 100% of the clinical business's stockfor approximately $215 million in cash. The transaction is expected toclose in the third quarter of 2006.

RHEIPharmaceuticals, Inc. (New Haven, CT, www.rheipharma.com)haslicensed from Flamel Technologies (Venissieux, France, www.flamel.com)  exclusive right to market the"Asacard" controlled-releaseformulation of aspirin in the Greater China region. Flamel willmanufacture a commercial supply of the product at its facilities inPessac, France. Financial terms were not disclosed.

People

Patheon (Toronto, ON, Canada, www.patheon.com) CEORobert C. Tedfordannounced his retirement from the company this week. Tedford joinedPatheon as chief financial officer in 1992 and became CEO in 1996. Withhis retirement, Tedford also resigned from

Patheon's board of directors.

MGI Pharma (Bloomington, MN, www.mgipharma.com)promoted William Spengler tosenior vice-president and chief financial officer. Spengler joined MGIin 2005 and served as senior vice-president of international andcorporate development.

Valois S.A.S. (Venissieux, France, www.valois.com), a manufacturer of spray and dispensingsystems, announced several new appointments. Giulio Pedretti was appointeddevelopment manager for pulmonary projects in European PulmonaryBusiness Development (Lugano, Switzerland); Alexandre Theodorakis was nameddirector of production in the Congers, New York plant; Guillaume du Boisbaudry wasappointed project manager in the Industrial Project Division (LeVaudreuil, France); Geralt Williamswas named manager of the R&D laboratory and regulatory affairsdepartment (LeVaudreuil,France); and NicolasOblin was name assembly process leader (Le Vaudreuil, France).

Thomas E. Ferguson, president of Flowserve Pumps

(Dallas, TX, www.flowserve.com)

, has been elected president of the Hydraulic Institute (Parsippany, NJ,www.pumps.org)for 2006?2007. The Hydraulic Institute is the largest association ofpump producers and suppliers in North America.