WILMINGTON, N.C., May 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- PPD, Inc. today announced that Fred Eshelman, chief executive officer of PPD, recently sold approximately 400,000 shares of his PPD common stock in a series of market transactions. Even after giving effect to this sale, Eshelman continues to be one of PPD’s largest shareholders, owning approximately 9,376,150 shares of PPD common stock, or approximately 8.0 percent of the company’s outstanding common shares. His shares of PPD stock include 50,000 shares of restricted stock vesting through 2008. Eshelman also holds vested and unvested options to purchase an additional 610,000 shares of common stock.
PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing discovery, development and post-approval services, as well as compound partnering programs. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 27 countries and more than 8,400 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help its clients and partners maximize returns on their R&D investments and accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics to patients. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.ppdi.com.
Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions 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. In addition, other important factors which could cause results to differ materially include the following: reliance on key personnel, including Eshelman; continued success in sales growth; loss of large contracts; increased cancellation rates; economic conditions and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries and government-sponsored research sector; competition within the outsourcing industry; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; dependence on collaborative relationships; rapid technological advances that make our products and services less competitive; risks that we may not continue our dividend policy; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for PPD, copies of which are available free of charge upon request from the PPD investor relations department.
Contacts: Linda Baddour +910 772 6999 linda.baddour@wilm.ppdi.com Steve Smith +910 772 7585 stephen.smith@wilm.ppdi.com
PPD, Inc.
CONTACT: Linda Baddour, +1-910-772-6999, or linda.baddour@wilm.ppdi.com,or Steve Smith, +1-910-772-7585, or stephen.smith@wilm.ppdi.com, both ofPPD, Inc.
Web site: http://www.ppdi.com/
