Healthcare Industry News:  Opana ER 

Biopharmaceuticals Drug Delivery Licensing

 News Release - May 20, 2008

Penwest Enters Into Development and Licensing Agreement With Cobalt Laboratories

DANBURY, Conn., May 20, 2008 (Healthcare Sales & Marketing Network) -- Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (NasdaqGM:PPCO ) today announced that it has signed a development and licensing agreement with Cobalt Laboratories Inc. to develop a formulation of an undisclosed compound utilizing Penwest's TIMERx(r) drug delivery technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Penwest will receive undisclosed fees and payments.


Jennifer L. Good, Penwest's President and CEO, said, ``We are pleased to have signed this development and licensing agreement with Cobalt. This is the second collaboration we have entered into to license our proven TIMERx drug delivery technology outside our primary focus in neurology. These arrangements fit with our strategy of leveraging the value of our proprietary drug delivery technologies to provide additional financial benefit to Penwest while permitting us to focus our internal resources on building our own product pipeline.''

Penwest Pharmaceuticals

Penwest is a drug development pharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing to the marketplace innovative products that help improve the lives of patients. The Company's goal is to identify, develop and commercialize prescription products that address unmet medical needs, primarily for disorders of the nervous system. Penwest is currently applying its drug development and drug delivery expertise to a pipeline of potential products that are in various stages of development and that it intends to commercialize independently or through third party alliances.

Cobalt Laboratories

Cobalt Laboratories is the Canadian member of The Arrow Group, an international company focused primarily on generic pharmaceutical products. Cobalt is a fully integrated organization, with Research and Development, Regulatory, Manufacturing and Commercial operations. Currently the fastest growing generic pharmaceutical company in Canada, Cobalt began sales in 2002. The rapidly expanding product line is the result of robust R & D initiatives, and will continue to fuel sales growth for the coming years.

Penwest Forward-Looking Statement

The matters discussed herein contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, which may cause the actual results in future periods to be materially different from any future performance suggested herein. For this purpose, any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words ``believes,'' ``anticipates,'' ``plans,'' ``expects,'' ``intends,'' ``potential'' and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause results to differ materially include: risks relating to the commercial success of Opana ER, including our reliance on Endo for the commercial success of Opana ER and risks of generic competition; the need for capital; regulatory risks relating to drugs in development, including the timing and outcome of regulatory submissions and regulatory actions; uncertainty of success of collaborations; the timing of clinical trials; whether the results of clinical trials will warrant further clinical trials, warrant submission of an application for regulatory approval of, or warrant the regulatory approval of, the product that is the subject of the trial; whether the patents and patent applications owned by us will protect the Company's products and technology and prevent others from infringing it; actual and potential competition; and other risks as set forth under the caption Risk Factors in Penwest's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 12, 2008, which risk factors are incorporated herein by reference.

The forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date of the statements made. Penwest disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

TIMERx is a registered trademark of Penwest. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.


Source: Penwest Pharmaceuticals

Issuer of this News Release is solely responsible for its content.
Please address inquiries directly to the issuing company.



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