Akorn, Inc. Names Shawn L. Silvestri, Ph.D. As Vice President, New Product Development.

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. -- Akorn, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKRX) today announced the appointment of Shawn L. Silvestri, Ph.D. as Vice President, New Product Development. Dr. Silvestri brings fifteen years experience in pharmaceutical research and development with Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, IL to his new role at Akorn.

Before joining Akorn, Dr. Silvestri served as Director, Abbott Diagnostics Division (ADD) Focused Factory and Technical Services from 2005 to 2007. There he led an organization of five hundred fifty scientists and manufacturing personnel at three sites performing product and process development, technical transfer, analytical methods development, validation and product life cycle management. Prior to 2005, Dr. Silvestri held diversified and progressively responsible roles in pharmaceutical product and process development with Global Pharmaceutical Operations (GPO), Pharmaceutical Product Division (PPD) and Abbott International (AI). Dr. Silvestri joined Abbott as Group Leader, Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery in 1992. Dr. Silvestri received a B.S. Pharmacy in 1985 from Duquesne University and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences-Pharmaceutics from the University of Connecticut, Storrs in 1989.

Arthur S. Przybyl, president and chief executive officer, stated, "We are excited to have Shawn join our senior management team. He brings substantial new product and process development experience in specialty pharmaceuticals to Akorn and we are confident that his technical expertise and leaderships skills will be a great asset. Shawn will be responsible for transitioning our product development efforts from our manufacturing site locations to a centralized location near our corporate headquarters."

About Akorn, Inc.

Akorn, Inc. manufactures and markets sterile specialty pharmaceuticals. Akorn has manufacturing facilities located in Decatur, Illinois and Somerset, New Jersey and markets and distributes an extensive line of hospital and ophthalmic pharmaceuticals. Additional information is available at the Company's website at www.akorn.com.

Materials in this press release may contain information that includes or is based upon forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements give our expectations or forecasts of future events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They use words such as "anticipate," "estimate," "expect," "project," "intend," "plan," "believe," and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with a discussion of future operating or financial performance. In particular, these include statements relating to future steps we may take, prospective products, future performance or results of current and anticipated products, sales efforts, expenses, the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings, and financial results.

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