Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. Dedicates New 162,000 Square-Foot Expansion; 300 New Jobs to Bedford, Ohio

BEDFORD, OH—July 8, 2003—Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. today celebrated the dedication of the latest expansion of its Bedford, Ohio pharmaceutical manufacturing facility. The new facility represents an addition of 162,000 square feet, and a capital investment of $82 million. The company has spent over $150 million in the last three years at its Bedford facility on further expansion and improvements.

“Ben Venue continues to grow to position itself to supply the expanding market for injectable pharmaceuticals,” said Thomas Russillo, President & COO. “We are proud to be the largest biotech employer in Northern Ohio and are creating about 300 new jobs with this expansion. We expect to continue growing even further.”

“Expansion of the Ben Venue facility underlines our strategic focus on the US market as an essential driver for continuous growth of the company,” stated Dr. Hans-Juergen Leuchs, Head of Corporate Board Division Operations and Member of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim.

With the new facility, Ben Venue now comprises 500,000 square feet at its Bedford location. The company is the world’s largest and most experienced contract developer and manufacturer of sterile pharmaceuticals. Its operations also include the Bedford Laboratories division, the third largest supplier of generic injectable products to theUS hospital market.

The new facility includes two new continuous filling lines with robotic traying that can accommodate either lyophilized (freeze-dried) or liquid products. It also includes six new 400 square foot lyophilizers with clean-in-place/steam-in-place capability, new sterilization equipment and a 10,000 unit per hour packaging line. Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. is a subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation based in Ridgefield, CT, and a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany.

The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies ranks among the 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations in the world and has 156 affiliated companies in 44 countries worldwide. Focusing on human pharmaceuticals and animal health, it posted revenues of $7.2 billion in 2002.

Since 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim has been a privately-held company with a long history of successfully marketed pharmaceutical innovations. Research and development, production and distribution facilities are located around the globe. In 2002, Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D spending was more than $1.2 billion U.S. which is about a fifth of net sales in Prescription Medicines.

For more information on Boehringer Ingelheim, please see the international Internet website www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.

Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. Awarded
National Cancer Institute Contract

BEDFORD, OH—March 3, 2003—Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc. has again been awarded a five year contract with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop and manufacture investigational compounds that will be studied in a variety of tumor types. This award is one of an uninterrupted series of contracts that have been in place at Ben Venue since the late 1960’s, and is one of the longest running in NCI history. The amount of the award is $8 million and the term of the contract is from March 3, 2003 through February 29, 2008.

Ben Venue's NCI contract supports process development/scale-up, specialized process and analytical method development/validation as well as manufacturing of investigational anti-tumor agents. The NCI issued requests for proposals at two levels of effort, and it was expected that contracts would be awarded to two different manufacturers. Ben Venue bid on and was awarded both levels.

"Ben Venue is very proud to have been awarded this contract," said Thomas Russillo, President and COO. "It gives us the opportunity to assist in making promising new research therapies available for cancer patients. Through our contracts in the past, we have participated in the development of many of the leading oncologic agents used today, including methotrexate, daunorubicin, paclitaxel, cisplatin, BiCNU, dacarbazine (DTIC), Fludara and calcium leucovorin."

The Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies ranks among the 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations in the world and has 156 affiliated companies in 44 countries worldwide. Focusing on human pharmaceuticals and animal health, it posted revenues of $7.2 billion in 2002.

Since 1885, Boehringer Ingelheim has been a privately-held company with a long history of successfully marketed pharmaceutical innovations. Research and development, production and distribution facilities are located around the globe. In 2002, Boehringer Ingelheim’s R&D spending was more than $1.2 billion U.S. which is about a fifth of net sales in Prescription Medicines.

For more information on Boehringer Ingelheim, please see the international Internet website www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.