RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Quintiles Transnational Corp. today announced that it has signed an agreement to join a joint venture to commercialize pharmaceutical products in the Asia Pacific region. Quintiles' partners in the joint venture, which will have an investment fund totaling $112 million, are leading Asia Pacific pharmaceutical services group Interpharma Asia Pacific, parent of drug distributor Zuellig Pharma; and Asia investment company Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited.
In June 2005, the companies announced the joint venture and Quintiles' signing of a letter of intent to join it. Each partner is expected to make an equal investment in the joint venture and own one-third of the company.
The joint venture will draw on each partner's market knowledge, experience and success in both the Asia Pacific and global healthcare markets to acquire and commercialize existing and new pharmaceutical products targeted at the needs of the Asia Pacific region. The joint venture is intended to help drug companies focus their resources on R&D by providing an outsourcing channel for product registration and sales and marketing of their brand portfolios.
Quintiles will transfer its Innovex businesses in Australia, South Korea and India, including approximately 800 employees, to the joint venture. These Innovex businesses provide commercialization expertise and resources to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in these countries and New Zealand. In addition, the agreement calls for Quintiles to be the exclusive provider of clinical development services required by the joint venture in countries where Quintiles has operations providing those services.
PharmaLink, the Asia Pacific pharmaceutical marketing services division of Interpharma, will be transferred to the new joint venture and will help in the acquisition of these products and, together with the transferred Innovex businesses, subsequent marketing in the Asia Pacific healthcare market. Zuellig Pharma will provide distribution and logistics expertise on a contract basis; Temasek brings overall knowledge of the Asia Pacific healthcare market and investing to meet its needs.
Quintiles Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Gillings, CBE, said: "Through this joint venture, we can provide pharma and biotech customers with innovative, flexible solutions to increase sales in Asia Pacific and manage their product portfolios. Economic growth in Asia Pacific is driving greater demand for medicines. We believe this joint venture can significantly help companies meet the needs of this rapidly expanding market."
The Asia Pacific pharmaceutical market, currently estimated to be $21 billion, has more than doubled over the last 10 years and is projected to double again over the next 10 years, according to industry research.
The joint venture will be managed by Brian Nichols, Chief Executive of PharmaLink, who has more than 30 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry in the Asia Pacific region. The transfer of the aforementioned Innovex businesses and employees to the joint venture is targeted for completion in first quarter 2006.
Quintiles is the global leader in pharmaceutical services. We improve healthcare worldwide by providing quality professional expertise, market intelligence and innovative partnering solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. Quintiles has 16,000 specialized employees and offices in 50 countries. For more information visit the company's Web site at http://www.quintiles.com.
Information in this press release contains "forward-looking statements." These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially, including, without limitation, the inability of the parties to satisfy all conditions required for Quintiles to join the joint venture, the possibility of delays in completing the three-way joint venture and the ability of the parties to realize the intended benefits of the joint venture. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are discussed in Quintiles' recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to its Annual Report on Form 10-K, its Form 8-Ks and its other periodic reports, including Form 10-Qs. Any forward-looking statements are as of the date hereof, and we have no duty to update them if our views later change.
Quintiles Transnational Corp.CONTACT: Pat Grebe Media Relations, or media.info@quintiles.com, or GregConnors, Investor Relations, invest@quintiles.com, of QuintilesTransnational Corp., +1-919-998-2000
Web site: http://www.quintiles.com/
