Aptuit to Acquire SSCI.

Acquisition Expands Capabilities to Include Solid-State Pharmaceutical Product Development

GREENWICH, Conn. -- Aptuit, Inc. and SSCI, Inc. announced today that Aptuit has signed an agreement to acquire SSCI, the leading solid state chemistry company focused on crystallization, characterization, and chemistry of solid materials. The acquisition will enable Aptuit to leverage SSCI's expertise in solid-state pharmaceutical product development to broaden its service offering for customers. The acquisition is expected to close within 30 days. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"SSCI is the clear leader in the field of analytical services and solid-state chemistry and crystallization," noted Michael A. Griffith, CEO of Aptuit. "By integrating their service offering with our existing analytic and active pharmaceutical ingredient development capabilities, we can offer customers a more robust and seamless offering to move product candidates toward the clinic and the marketplace. SSCI's strength in polymorph, salt, cocrystal, amorphous material, and analytical research has helped customers improve development outcomes and build sound intellectual property positions along the way."

As part of this deal, Aptuit will acquire SSCI's facilities in West Lafayette, Indiana; Atlanta, Georgia; Oxford, UK, and retain SSCI's approximately 100 employees. SSCI will continue to operate under the SSCI brand for a period of time, but customers will have a seamless transition between the SSCI and Aptuit service offerings.

Mr. Griffith continued by saying, "By means of this acquisition, SSCI brings a well-recognized and unique legal consulting practice to the Aptuit offering. SSCI's extensive legal services group has broad expertise in science-based patent prosecution and patent litigation. This expertise will now be available to Aptuit customers through Aptuit Consulting."

SSCI's CEO, Sally Byrn, who was named Vice President, Physical and Analytical Chemistry at Aptuit, stated "Together SSCI and Aptuit are in a great position to reengineer the drug development process, bringing our customers unprecedented speed to market while helping to achieve the FDA mandate of Quality by Design." In addition to new responsibilities for Ms. Byrn, several members of the SSCI management team have been named to leadership positions within Aptuit: Richard Ferguson, SSCI's CFO has been named Vice President, Treasurer; David Bertolino will become Senior Director, Human Resources; and Daniel Pannell will become Senior Director, Physical and Analytical Chemistry.

Additionally, SSCI's Chief Operating Officer, Pat Stahly, Ph.D., commented on the acquisition by saying, "The access to Aptuit's capabilities in active pharmaceutical ingredient development, drug substance manufacture, scale-up, and formulation will allow our scientists, for the first time, to provide a much more extensive solid-state development strategy for customers. Our first priority is the completion of assignments as planned and on time. Customers will experience no disruption in projects and we anticipate that many will want to utilize Aptuit's other services across the drug development continuum, including preclinical technologies, pharmaceutics, and clinical packaging and logistics."

Currently, Aptuit has strengths in consulting services, informatics, active pharmaceutical ingredient development, preclinical technologies, pharmaceutical sciences, and clinical packaging and logistics. By acquiring SSCI, Aptuit will now be able to offer customers: unprecedented control of the solid form throughout the development process; the best state-of-the-art analytical services, especially as they relate to solids; and SSCI's outstanding reputation as a cGMP analytical services laboratory. An improvement in quality may reduce clinical trial problems such as the need for bridging studies and rework.

SSCI and Aptuit are also bringing online a range of top level analytical services for protein and peptide drugs. These services include: conventional analyses as well as X-ray powder diffraction, dynamic light scattering, characterization, stability, and formulation studies. The combined SSCI and Aptuit service offering, as well as these planned investments, are designed to improve quality and reduce clinical trial problems for customers.

The acquisition extends Aptuit's capabilities and displays the company's commitment to providing top-tier scientific services for customers. Aptuit also recently announced a signed agreement to acquire EaglePicher Pharmaceutical Services, adding active pharmaceutical ingredient development and drug substance manufacture to the company's broad offering.

About SSCI:

SSCI, Inc. is a comprehensive cGMP research and analytical service firm for the pharmaceutical, specialty, industrial, and fine chemical industries, focusing on the characterization and chemistry of solid materials. The company's primary focus is to help pharmaceutical industry clients to improve chemical candidate success during drug development and improve the quality of the drug products that they offer to the world. Additionally, SSCI provides professional development short courses and other educational services to its customers. The company's service offering includes: Polymorph and Salt Screening and Selection, Form Selection, Property Improvement, Crystallization of Difficult Materials, Process Control, Full Analytical Chemistry Support, Intellectual Property Consulting and Litigation Support, and related research activities. For more information about SSCI, please visit ssci-inc.com.

About Aptuit:

Aptuit, Inc. is a global company focused on streamlining and supporting the drug development process for biotechnology and pharmaceutical innovators. The company was founded by a group of industry experts with extensive market experience who have a track record of building a similar, highly successful company through acquisitions and investment. Aptuit provides a comprehensive suite of product development services and competencies to biotechnology companies and large, fully integrated pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Currently, the company has more than 2,000 employees, 12 global facilities, and resources to reach 70 countries. Aptuit's mission is to engineer a better drug development process, and is partnered with Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, one of the world's largest private equity investors. For more information about Aptuit, please visit aptuit.com.