Meridian Venture Partners Funds Buy-Out of Liquids Pharmaceutical Company; New CEO to Transform the Company into Specialty Pharmaceutical Player.

Business Editors

GULFPORT, Miss.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 12, 2004

Meridian Venture Partners today announced that it has led the buyout of the assets and operations of ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("ANIP"), an over-the-counter, liquid pharmaceuticals manufacturing company, from Advanced Nutraceuticals, Inc. Meridian was joined by Liberty Venture Partners and incoming members of management in the buyout. Simultaneous with the acquisition, Meridian installed a new senior management team led by Tom Anderson, former president of the U.S. Pharmaceuticals Division (USPD) of Alpharma, Inc., a global pharmaceutical firm.

"With this transaction, we have acquired a significant pharmaceutical manufacturing facility along with the management expertise needed to expand its business in the pharmaceutical market," says Charlotte Arnold, Vice President, Meridian Venture Partners. "Tom Anderson is a proven industry player, whose past track record with USPD transformed that company into the industry leader. We look forward to supporting Tom and his management team in building ANIP into a substantial enterprise."

Located in Gulfport, Mississippi, ANIP's 132,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility has an annual capacity of 50 million units, and has performed contract manufacturing for some of the largest and most respected pharmaceutical companies in the world, including: Bayer, Schering Plough, Ivax, Watson, CB Fleet, and others. In addition, ANIP provides a line of private label products to most of the large retail chains. As the new CEO, Anderson will focus on converting ANIP from a pure contract manufacturing operation into a specialty pharmaceutical company.

While with USPD, Anderson led the Company's successful turnaround which resulted in a doubling of sales to $300 million. In addition, he took the Company from an operating loss to profitability levels commensurate with other specialty pharmaceutical firms. In recognition of his performance, Anderson received the 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Turnaround Category for the Mid-Atlantic region.

Prior to his success at USPD, Anderson held increasingly responsible senior executive positions at FoxMeyer Health Corporation, a $6 billion wholesale pharmaceutical distributor, and Wilson Foods, a $1.3 billion manufacturer and distributor of meat products.

Anderson serves or has served as a member of the Board of Directors for numerous organizations, including Meridian Medical Technologies and the Generic Pharmaceutical Association. He also currently sits on the Board of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Anderson received his Bachelor's Degree of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Arlington and earned his Master's Degree of Business Administration in Finance at the New York University Stern School of Business.