Aventis Behring Selects Covidence to Manage Clinical Research Activities.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

SAN ANTONIO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 16, 2003

Covidence Acquires Center of Excellence in Oracle Clinical Data

Management and Biostatistics from Aventis Behring

At the 39th Annual Meeting of the Drug Information Association, Covidence announced today the hiring of more than 30 high-level Oracle Clinical data management and biostatistics experts from Aventis Behring L.L.C. These specialists will help Covidence become the long-term preferred clinical development services provider for Aventis Behring, a leader in the therapeutic protein industry.

This team of Oracle Clinical specialists will join the 70-plus Clintrial specialists already working for Covidence.

With this acquisition, Covidence becomes the first Clinical Research Organization (CRO) of its size that is able to design, build, operate, and maintain clinical data bases and data warehouses to the highest possible regulatory standards in both Oracle Clinical and Clintrial, the biopharmaceutical industry's two leading clinical data management solutions.

"Although Covidence is widely known for its unrivaled capacity, expertise, and skill base in all versions of Clintrial, it was a challenge to locate a matching group of experts in Oracle Clinical, the alternative industry standard in data management," says Luc Opsomer, Chief Executive Officer, Covidence. "By enhancing Covidence with expertise and experience in plasma proteins, we have also added a new therapeutic avenue to our existing excellence in oncology, cardiovascular disease, rheumatology, diabetes, and dermatology."

"We are pleased to secure long-term access to our talented pool of data management experts with our choice of Covidence. Together, these teams will provide the majority of our current and future clinical development services," said Ruedi Waeger, Chief Executive Officer, Aventis Behring. "I believe that Covidence was the right choice for Aventis Behring. With a strong track record of 10-years, substantial brain power and a dedicated work force, Covidence will become an important player in the healthcare industry."

About Covidence

Covidence's new Oracle Clinical Vaccines team will relocate on July 1, 2003 to it's own site at the new Software Center in Marburg, Germany. Marburg is a center of scientific history where many medical and biopharmaceutical milestones were met. Dr. Emil von Behring worked in Marburg and became the first Nobel Laureate in Medicine in 1901, sharing in the discovery of the diphtheria and tetanus vaccines with his Japanese colleague, Prof. Shibasaburo Kitasato.

Dr. Wilhelm Horn and Dr. Kurt Loffler were former heads of clinical research and of biostatistics & data management at Aventis (predecessor company: Hoechst) in Frankfurt, Germany. Together, they started Covidence in 2001, backed by venture capital from 3i, the leading European venture capital fund. Covidence is now an independent clinical research services organization with almost 200 highly skilled and experienced clinical R & D professionals. For more information, please visit www.covidence.com.

About Aventis Behring

Aventis Behring, part of the Aventis family of companies, is a global leader in the plasma protein industry, providing a wide range of innovative and high-quality medicines to patients worldwide. Aventis Behring is dedicated to research and development in the area of human blood plasma as well as in emerging technologies. For more information about Aventis Behring, please visit: www.AventisBehring.com.