Encorium Group, Inc. Re-Appoints Dr. Kai Lindevall as Chief Executive Officer

BERWYN, Pa., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Encorium Group, Inc., a full service multinational clinical research organization (CRO) conducting studies in over 30 countries for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, today announced that it has re-appointed Dr. Kai Lindevall as Chief Executive Officer. In addition, the Board of Directors has appointed Shahab Fatheazam, a current director of the Company, as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Dr. Lindevall had previously served as Executive Chairman and President of Europe and Asia from July 2009 until present, Chief Executive Officer of the Company from February 2008 until September 2008 and as President, Europe and Asian Operations from November 2006 until February 2008.

Mr. Fatheazam most recently served as Managing Director and head of the U.S. healthcare practice of GCA Savvian, a leading international investment banking advisory firm. Mr. Fatheazam joined GCA Savvian in 2004 from Vector Securities, a premier healthcare specialty firm, where he was a partner. Prior to helping to form Vector Securities, he was co-head of Paine Webber's Lifescience Division. He began his career on Wall Street with Kidder, Peabody & Co, where, in 1980, he became a partner and senior executive in Kidder's international corporate finance unit. Mr. Fatheazam holds a BA and MA from Cambridge University in England and an MBA from Columbia University. Mr. Fatheazam sits on the boards of two biotechnology companies and is a Trustee at Chicago University's Harris School. He is a member of the Economics Club in Chicago.

On the appointment of Mr. Fatheazam, Dr. Kai Lindevall commented, "Since his appointment to the Board of Directors in November 2008, Mr. Fatheazam has significantly contributed to the Board and the execution of the Company's business and management. He has a long and successful career in the health care and public company environment and the Board is extremely pleased to have his leadership in building stockholder value."

Mr. Fatheazam stated, "The ever changing world of pharmaceutical testing of future therapeutics and the means of delivering them, make the CRO industry very dynamic and interesting. Encorium has an international experience which plays very well with the needs of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. It is my goal to always improve and keep apace of the requirements necessary to be an effective player in the field."

The Company also announced today the results of stockholder voting at its Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on January 8, 2010. The Company reported that approximately 70% percent of the outstanding shares were represented either in person or by proxy at the meeting.

Encorium stockholders voted to elect all five nominees to the Board of Directors, namely, Shahab Fatheazam, Sari Laitinen, Dr. Kai Lindevall, Petri Manninen, and David Morra to serve until the next annual meeting or until their successors are elected; ratified the appointment of Asher & Company, Ltd. as the Company's independent registered public accountants for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2009; and approved the issuance of 874,126 shares of its common stock issuable under warrant exchange agreements with two private investors, as well as any additional shares underlying the exchange warrants that may be issuable as a result of the anti-dilution provisions set forth in such instruments.

In addition, Encorium stockholders approved an amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation, as amended, to affect a reverse stock split of shares of the Company's common stock issued and outstanding at a ratio to be established by our Board of Directors in its discretion of up to one for 10 (but not less than one for three). If the reverse split is affected by our Board of Directors, we can not assure you that that we will be able to comply with the other requirements for continued listing on NASDAQ in order to maintain our listing on the NASDAQ Capital Market. As previously disclosed, on August 25, 2009, the Company received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market notifying the Company that, based on its Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009, NASDAQ had determined that the Company's stockholders' equity does not comply with the minimum $2.5 million stockholders' equity requirement for continued listing on The NASDAQ Capital Market as required by NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 5550(b)(1). On October 19, 2009 the Company received a letter from NASDAQ extending to December 8, 2009 the time to regain compliance with Rule 5550(b). NASDAQ will continue to monitor the Company's ongoing compliance with the stockholder's equity requirement and has informed that Company that, if at the time of its next periodic report for the year ending December 31, 2009 the Company does not evidence compliance, the Company may be subject to delisting. Based on the Company's preliminary results for the period ending December 31, 2009 the Company does not believe it will satisfy this requirement. If the Company does not, the Company may request a hearing before the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Panel. Such request would stay any delisting determination by the NASDAQ Listing Qualifications Staff and the Company's common stock would remain listed on NASDAQ pending a formal determination by the Panel.

About Encorium Group, Inc.

Encorium Group, Inc. is a global clinical research organization specializing in the design and management of complex clinical trials and Patient Registries for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company's mission is to provide its clients with high quality, full-service support for their biopharmaceutical and medical device development programs. Encorium offers therapeutic expertise, experienced team management and advanced technologies. The Company has drug and biologics development as well as clinical trial experience across a wide variety of therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular, vaccines, oncology, diabetes endocrinology/metabolism, gene therapy, immunology, neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, hepatology, women's health and respiratory medicine. Encorium believes that its expertise in the design of complex clinical trials, its therapeutic experience and commitment to excellence, and its application of innovative technologies, offer its clients a means to more quickly and cost effectively move products through the clinical development process.

This press release contains forward-looking statements identified by words such as "estimate," "project," "expect," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and similar expressions. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the risk that we may not have sufficient funds to operate our business; (ii) our success in attracting new business and retaining existing clients and projects; (iii) the size, duration and timing of clinical trials we are currently managing may change unexpectedly; (iv) the termination, delay or cancellation of clinical trials we are currently managing could cause revenues and cash-on-hand to decline unexpectedly; (v) the timing difference between our receipt of contract milestone or scheduled payments and our incurring costs to manage these trials; (vi) outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries; (vii) the ability to maintain profit margins in a competitive marketplace; (viii) our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; (ix) the sensitivity of our business to general economic conditions; (x) other economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices; (xi) announced awards received from existing and potential customers are not definitive until fully negotiated contracts are executed by the parties; (xii) our backlog may not be indicative of future results and may not generate the revenues expected; and (xiii) uncertainties regarding the availability of additional capital; and (xiv) uncertainties regarding continued listing of our common stock on NASDAQ. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. We undertake no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2009 for a more complete discussion of factors which could cause our actual results and financial position to change.