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WILMINGTON, N.C. & TOKYO

Pharmaceutical Product Development, LLC (PPD) and Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd. (SNBL) (TSE:2395) today announced the closing of an agreement to form a joint venture to provide clinical development services in Japan.

With the completion of the deal, PPD-SNBL is one of the largest clinical development service providers in Japan, both for clients seeking to conduct global clinical trials and for trials based solely in Japan.

The new company combines SNBL’s clinical research division and PPD’s clinical development operations in Japan and provides a full range of services, including Phase I-IV clinical trial monitoring, project management, biostatistics, site intelligence and activation, data management, medical writing, pharmacovigilance, regulatory and FSP services.

With offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Kagoshima, and approximately 400 clinical development professionals, the new company brings together PPD’s global resources and clinical trial expertise with SNBL’s nearly 20-year history and in-depth knowledge of providing clinical development services for biopharmaceutical companies in Japan.

PPD and SNBL also agreed to collaborate in a number of areas outside the clinical development joint venture. Those areas comprise SNBL’s early stage businesses (including translational research out-licensing business), Phase I services in the United States for Japanese bridging studies, specialized neuroscience studies, vaccines studies and biologic studies, Phase I services in Japan, Japanese bioanalysis services and site management services in Japan.

“PPD-SNBL provides biopharmaceutical clients the best of both worlds for their research programs involving Japan: PPD’s global capabilities, systems and processes combined with SNBL’s depth of clinical knowledge and scope in Japan,” said Paul Colvin, executive vice president of clinical development at PPD and chairman and chief executive officer of PPD-SNBL. “The joint venture positions PPD at the forefront of the CRO industry in Japan and creates a compelling offering for our clients.”

Ryoichi Nagata M.D., Ph.D., chairman and president of SNBL and president of PPD-SNBL, said the joint venture reflects the corporate cultures of both PPD and SNBL, which share a focus on quality delivery and customer service. “PPD-SNBL offers clients a unique opportunity to leverage our combined deep clinical research expertise in Japan and global clinical trial experience and infrastructure,” he said.

Under the terms of the agreement, PPD-SNBL is majority-owned by PPD. The transaction closed on 1 April.

About PPD

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing drug discovery, development, lifecycle management and laboratory services. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 46 countries and more than 13,500 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help clients and partners accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics and maximize the returns on their R&D investments. For more information, visit www.ppdi.com.

About Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories (SNBL)

For more than 55 years, SNBL has been a leader in providing development services to biopharmaceutical companies, generating high quality data with the exceptional precision needed to rapidly advance new medical therapies and innovations that improve patients’ lives. In addition to providing services, SNBL has a translational research business, which utilizes its development capabilities to develop value-adding technologies and provides them to the pharmaceutical and medical industry. For further information about SNBL, please visit www.snbl.com.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions, including statements, expectations and assumptions about the joint venture between PPD and SNBL, contained in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based and could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Other important factors that could cause future results to differ materially include the following: risks associated with and dependence on strategic relationships; risks associated with acquisitions and investments; the ability to attract, integrate, retain and train key personnel; competition in the outsourcing industry; PPD’s ability to win new business; overall global economic conditions; economic conditions, research and development spending, and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and government-sponsored research sectors; loss, delay or modification of large contracts; higher-than-expected cancellation rates; the rate of conversion of backlog into revenue; consolidation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries; rapid technological advances that make our services or capabilities less competitive; the ability to control SG&A spending; compliance with drug development regulations; changes in the regulation of the drug development process; and actual operating performance. PPD assumes no obligation and expressly disclaims any duty to update these forward-looking statements in the future, except as required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing PPD’s estimates or views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.