Patheon, Inc. has revised the roles of several senior executives at the company. Nick DiPietro, president and chief operating officer, will assume a new role as executive vice president, corporate development, effective March 1, 2008. In his new role, Mr. DiPietro will lead the development of a long-term corporate strategy and assist in evaluating future growth opportunities. He will continue to report to Wesley P. Wheeler, chief executive officer.

Clive Bennett, president, Patheon U.S.A., will assume a new role as chief technical officer, reporting to Mr. Wheeler, effective March 1, 2008. In this newly created role, Mr. Bennett will be responsible for the company's global quality, supply chain, information technology and engineering functions. He also will continue to lead the company's divestiture of its Carolina operations facility in PR.

Steve Liberty has been appointed senior vice president, operations, Canada and U.S.A., and will assume responsibility for the company's Cincinnati and Burlington Century Lab facilities in addition to his current leadership of the Toronto Region, Whitby and York Mills sites. Mr. Liberty will report to Terence Novak, who recently joined Patheon as president, North American operations and chief marketing officer.

"This realignment of responsibilities will result in a more focused and effective executive team, enabling us to move forward to build and grow our business," said Mr. Wheeler. "I look forward to Nick's leadership and capitalizing on his creativity and entrepreneurial talent as we develop a new strategic plan for Patheon," said Mr. Wheeler.

Hans Engels has been appointed president and business unit director of DSM Pharmaceuticals Inc. Mr. Engels will continue to be based out of the Greenville, NC facility.
   
Mr. Engels joined the company in 2000, and most recently served as chief operating officer, DSM Pharmaceutical Products. During his eight years with the company, Mr. Engels served as chief operating officer and site director for DSM Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to joining the company, he was the vice president of production and engineering for Alpha Therapeutics and has held various executive leadership positions for Bayer AG.  

Pfizer has entered into an agreement to acquire Encysive Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a publicly held biopharma company, for an equity value of approximately $195 million.

Pfizer will acquire the rights to Thelin, an oral, endothelin A receptor antagonist (ETRA) for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), as well as Encysive's other pipeline candidates. Thelin is approved for marketing in the EU and is currently available in the UK, Germany, Ireland, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The drug has also been approved in Australia and Canada. In the U.S., it has been the subject of three approvable letters from the FDA; Pfizer plans to conduct a Phase III trial to support registration in the U.S.

"The process initiated in July of 2007 to review Encysive's strategic alternatives led us to consider a range of opportunities for increasing shareholder value," commented George W. Cole, president and chief executive officer of Encysive. "After a thorough analysis, Encysive's board of directors concluded that this cash transaction with Pfizer represents the best option for our shareholders now. Pfizer has come with a superior offer and with an in-depth understanding of pulmonary arterial hypertension, our primary therapeutic focus."

"The acquisition of Encysive will add growing, near-term revenue from the European market and increase our already strong presence in the cardio-respiratory arena with a product that complements Revatio, a PAH treatment that was discovered and developed by Pfizer researchers," said Ian Read, president of Pfizer's Worldwide Pharmaceutical Operations. "We look forward to applying Pfizer's significant resources to the launch of Thelin in additional countries."

The transaction is expected to close in 2Q08, subject to customary closing conditions.

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