Pharmaron Beijing Co., Limited (Stock Code: 300759.SZ/3759.HK) ("Pharmaron") announced today that it has acquired Aesica Pharmaceuticals Limited ("The Cramlington Site") from Recipharm group.

The Cramlington Site in Newcastle, United Kingdom, has an established history of cGMP manufacturing services for an array of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), ranging from pilot scale to commercial metric ton scale. The Cramlington Site has more than 100 cubic meter reactor commercial capacity and has been inspected and approved by the MHRA, FDA and other regulatory authorities.

This acquisition expands Pharmaron's world-class chemistry and manufacturing services, which is an important component of its fully integrated platform. The synergistic integration of the Cramlington Site with Pharmaron's existing service capabilities of discovery, process development and early-stage cGMP API manufacturing at Hoddesdon will enable a complete end-to-end chemistry and manufacturing service offering in the United Kingdom. This addition further strengthens Pharmaron's global service network to provide customized solutions to meet our partners' geographic and strategic needs.

Dr. Boliang Lou, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pharmaron, commented, "We are delighted to have the Cramlington Site join the Pharmaron Group. This acquisition complements and further enhances Pharmaron's CMC capabilities in the United Kingdom and China. We are committed to expanding the Cramlington Site to meet growing demand. Together with our API manufacturing facility expansion in China, this transaction is another important step in realizing our vision of becoming a leading global provider of integrated small molecule drug R&D and manufacturing services."

Marc Funk, CEO of Recipharm, commented, "This divestment helps us to streamline our operations in line with our strategic goals and better align with our customers' evolving needs. I am pleased that the Cramlington Site will get a committed owner with the capacity and capability to develop it to its full potential. As a top five global CDMO, we will continue to develop and invest in our highly successful contract manufacturing business."

Goetzpartners securities acted as exclusive financial advisor to Pharmaron, and O'Melveny acted as legal advisor. Results Healthcare acted as exclusive financial advisor to Recipharm and Addleshaw Goddard acted as legal advisor.

About Pharmaron
Pharmaron (Stock Code: 300759.SZ/3759.HK) is a premier R&D service provider for the life sciences industry. Founded in 2004, Pharmaron has invested in its people and facilities and established a broad spectrum of research, development and manufacturing service capabilities throughout the entire drug discovery, preclinical and clinical development process across multiple therapeutic modalities, including small molecules, biologics and CGT products. With over 15,000 employees, and operations in China, the U.S., and the U.K., Pharmaron has an excellent track record in the delivery of R&D solutions to its partners in North America, Europe, Japan and China. www.pharmaron.com  (http://www.pharmaron.com%20)

About Recipharm
Recipharm is a leading Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) in the pharmaceutical industry employing almost 9,000 employees. Recipharm offers manufacturing services of pharmaceuticals in various dosage forms, production of clinical trial material and APIs, pharmaceutical product development and development and manufacturing of medical devices. Recipharm manufactures several hundred different products to customers ranging from big pharma to smaller research and development companies. The company operates development and manufacturing facilities in France, Germany, India, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. 
For more information on Recipharm and our services, please visit www.recipharm.com

For more information, please contact:
Ashok Tehim, Senior VP, Strategy, Tel: +1 201 312 5754, ashok.tehim@pharmaron.com
Marcus Smith, Head of Communications at Recipharm, marcus.smith@recipharm.com