Contacts: Marcia Katz, Pall Corporation
Tel. +1 (516) 801-9851
Email: Marcia_Katz@pall.com
Pall Magnifies Focus on Asia
Brings Top Talent, More Resources to Region to Address Growing Biopharmaceutical Market
East Hills, NY (March 21, 2006) - - Demonstrating its commitment to the burgeoning pharmaceutical market in Asia, Pall Corporation (NYSE: PLL) announced today that it has added leading industry experts and more key executives to its regional team as part of the Company’s global initiative of aligning with customers worldwide. These initiatives address evolving biopharmaceutical customer needs by building on a strong Pall infrastructure throughout the region and furthering the Company’s focus on India, China and Southeast Asia. Several members of the broadened team of executives will be introduced at a special luncheon celebrating Asia at INTERPHEX2006.
“Our BioPharm business in Asia grew by 14 percent over the last fiscal year largely because of the solid foundation of expertise and technological capabilities we have built throughout the region,” says Roberto Perez, President, Pall Life Sciences Worldwide. “We continue to look for ways to bring our industry-leading filtration, separation and purification products closer to customers and these newest initiatives reinforce this commitment as well as our dedication to future growth in Asia.”
India and China
Market growth in India and China, which are leading the charge in the emerging Asian pharmaceutical industry, was a major impetus behind several of the Pall programs. The Indian Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Market Annual Review (2005) reports that the Indian pharmaceutical industry is growing at the rate of nearly 9 percent annually. According to a report from The Golden Triangle Organization, Inc., China’s more than $20 billion pharmaceutical market will continue to experience double-digit growth rates to 2010.
“The pharmaceutical markets in India and China present a tremendous opportunity for our customers,” says Holly Haughney, Ph.D., who was recently named vice president, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Marketing Asia. “Many multinational manufacturers and processors have moved quickly to gain a presence in these regions and domestic companies also are beginning to make an impact in the global marketplace.”
In India, recent patent protection legislation and the rise in R&D investment by local producers are among many factors that are contributing to its growth. India now has more FDA-approved manufacturing plants than any other country except the United States. Additionally, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, India Prescription for Growth, several leading domestic producers have begun to conduct original research into new chemical entities and novel drug delivery systems.
The diversity of opportunities within India was one of the reasons Dr. Haughney was relocated from Pall global headquarters in New York to Bangalore. Dr. Haughney, a Ph.D. in chemical engineering and a 16-year veteran at Pall, will oversee all Pall biopharmaceutical marketing activities throughout Asia. She will also work closely with Vinay Joban, another Pall veteran, also relocated from New York to Bangalore, where he is establishing a new Pall Center of Excellence. Joban will serve as the new general manager, Pall Life Sciences India.
“Companies are taking advantage of India’s pool of academics in the mushrooming arena of drug discovery,” says Joban. “The region also is fast becoming a leader in vaccines, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and other important biopharmaceutical sectors. This is why we feel it is critical to bring both our engineering expertise and technical resources even closer to our customers.”
To meet technical and training needs, Pall is opening a new Center of Excellence in Bangalore this year. The versatile center will provide India’s pharmaceutical, biotechnology and discovery marketplace with a full range of total fluid management solutions. It will include a state-of-the-art process proteomics lab designed specifically to help customers speed the discovery process, a training facility and a validation laboratory to meet the growing need for support as Indian companies enter the highly regulated drug export market.
In the China marketplace, where Pall is already recognized as an industry leader with offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Changchun and Shanghai, Dr. Joe Gu joins as vice president, Pall Life Sciences China. Dr. Gu, who most recently worked for the Merck Group, offers a unique background that combines several years of service as a medical doctor with more than twelve years of experience within the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Gu is charged with leveraging the many opportunities afforded by the region, specifically in the economically fertile East China market.
“Foreign investors and manufacturers are being drawn to Shanghai and the East region as they are looking to capitalize on the affluent Yangtze River area’s increasing pharmaceutical purchasing power,” says Dr. Gu.
With plans to build a Center of Excellence in Shanghai this year Pall will play an even larger role in advancing the market. By broadening its offerings and capabilities throughout China, the Company can work closely with local customers to help them optimize operations, expedite process validation and participate in the transition to disposable processing.
The emerging opportunities in China are however not limited to the Yangtze region. Anticipating increases in demand, Pall is emphasizing both internal and customer training throughout China. The company’s Storm program, for instance, offers technical seminars in all key biopharmaceutical production locations in China on a variety of topics ranging from sterilizing filtration to enhancing API production.
Southeast Asia and Beyond
Recent Pall initiatives in China and India further augment an infrastructure that includes offices throughout the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Company began operations in Southeast Asia in 1984, with the opening of an office in Singapore. Today, it continues to build on its strength in the region. In 2003, for example, a larger office was opened in Singapore, and last year the company established a presence in Indonesia.
Hans-Peter Mueller, who is the regional manager, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Southeast Asia, moved to Singapore from Pall Germany in late 2004. More recently, that office added Hazelle Lam, a specialist in protein purification and chromatography, to serve as regional marketing manager, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Southeast Asia.
According to Mueller, Singapore is flourishing. “Singapore has a very strong base of multinational API manufacturers and is quickly developing into an R&D and manufacturing hub for MAbs (monoclonal antibodies) and recombinant vaccines. Strong government support in the life sciences area in general also has been instrumental in furthering the market.”
To address the changing needs in Singapore, Pall has set up a technical center and lab that offers solutions on systems engineering as well as a wide range of services for qualification, optimization and validation. The Company also has plans to build a Center of Excellence there to address life science activities for all of Southeast Asia.
“We are confident that the team of experts we have assembled and the technical resources we have put in place firmly position Pall for long-term success in Asia,” says Ken Frank, president, Pall BioPharmaceuticals Worldwide. “As our customers expand their interests in the region, we will be there to support their evolving requirements with total fluid management solutions.”
About Pall Corporation
Pall Corporation is the global leader in the rapidly growing field of filtration, separations and purification. Pall's business is organized around two broad markets: Life Sciences and Industrial. The Company provides leading-edge products to meet the demanding needs of customers in biotechnology, pharmaceutical, transfusion medicine, semiconductor, water purification, aerospace and broad industrial markets. Total revenues for fiscal 2005 were $1.9 billion. The Company headquarters is in East Hills, New York with extensive operations throughout the world. Visit Pall at http://www.pall.com.
Forward-Looking Statement
This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current Company expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; regulatory approval and market acceptance of new technologies; changes in product mix and product pricing and in interest rates and cost of raw materials; the Company’s success in enforcing its patents and protecting its proprietary products and manufacturing techniques and its ability to achieve the savings anticipated from its cost reduction initiatives; global and regional economic conditions and legislative, regulatory and political developments; and domestic and international competition in the Company’s global markets. Additional information regarding these and other factors is available on the Web at www.pall.comand is included in the Company’s reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of such reports can be obtained, without charge, at www.sec.gov.
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Editor’s Note:
· Media can contact Stacey Castiglia: scastiglia@ abipr.com or call 212 529 4500 for a reservation to the invitation-only celebration luncheon be held on Wednesday March 22 at 12:30pm at Interphex2006 Jacob K. Javits Center, New York City.
· Photos of the Pall Asia management team can be found on http://www.pall.com/corporate_39401.asp.
· Visit Pall booth # 1825 at Interphex2006, March 21-23 to learn more about new Pall products and technologies for the biopharmaceutical industry and how the Company aligns with customers worldwide.
