Merrion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Announces the Appointment of Management Team.

WILMINGTON, N.C.& DUBLIN, Ireland -- Merrion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a new specialty pharmaceutical company with novel approaches to oral drug delivery has announced the appointment of three key members of the company's management team. The appointments include two at the company's research and development headquarters, located in Dublin, Ireland: John Lynch, Managing Director and Joey Moodley, Director of Operations, Merrion Biopharma, Ltd. The third appointment announced today is that of Thomas W. Leonard, PhD as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Merrion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Wilmington, NC.

Commenting on the appointments, Michael McKenna, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Merrion said, "I am very pleased to have this exceptionally talented group of individuals come together to form our management team at Merrion. Each of them brings unique and complementary global industry experience and expertise that will form a nucleus of leadership for our new company."

John Lynch has extensive global business development management experience and a strong financial background. Mr. Lynch joins Merrion from Abbott Laboratories, where he spent 15 years in increasingly responsible management positions for business development and sales. He most recently served as Commercial Director, Abbott Laboratories UK, where he was responsible for a $100M division, and made the UK business a role model for Abbott business in other countries. Previously he held positions as Senior Business Development Manager, Abbott International - USA, Division Director, Hospital Products and Nutritional Products Divisions, Abbott Laboratories, Ireland, Financial Director Abbott Laboratories, Ireland. Earlier in his career Mr. Lynch held financial positions with Bayer Diagnostics Limited, and Ernst & Young. Mr. Lynch holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Honors from University College in Dublin. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland, and an active member of the Marketing Institute of Ireland.

Joey (Jagathesan) Moodley joins Merrion BioPharma Ltd. from Elan Corporation plc, where he spent 25 years in a variety of manufacturing and R&D management positions. Most recently he was Director, Facilities, Materials Management and Technical Support and oversaw the design and implementation of a variety of facilities for Elan's Drug Delivery Group. Previously, he was Director, Special Projects, R&D, where he managed a group of specialized formulation and analytical scientists to develop novel drug delivery systems using the company's patented technologies. Prior to this he was Director, Manufacturing, with responsibility for over 120 employees in a fully accredited FDA facility. Mr. Moodley received his education in Durban, South Africa and is a graduate of the Irish Management Institute Production Managers Programme, Dublin, Ireland.

Thomas Leonard, PhD, brings two decades of new product formulation and drug development management experience. Dr. Leonard joins Merrion from Endeavor Pharmaceuticals, Inc., where he served as Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer. Previously, he was Senior Director, Product Development at aaiPharma, Inc., where he was responsible for all formulation development, scaleup and transfer, and associated analytical development. Prior to this, Dr. Leonard was Director of aaiPharma's Fomulations Development Division. Before aaiPharma, Dr. Leonard held the positions of Associate Director, Liquid Formulations and Parenteral Development Sections, Wyeth-Ayerst Research and Section Head, Biopharmacy and Experimental Formulations, Ayerst Laboratories, Inc.

Dr. Leonard received a B.S. in Pharmacy from The College of Pharmacy, University of South Carolina, and a PhD in Pharmaceutics from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. He has published extensively in his field, has numerous approved patents, and is an active member of a number of professional pharmaceutical organizations.

Established in 2004, Merrion is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical venture focused on novel, oral drug delivery. The company develops and manufactures leading-edge technologies to meet the growing needs of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The technologies were originally developed by the Elan Biotechnology Research (EBR) Center, which was founded in Dublin in 1994. Merrion's worldwide headquarters are in Wilmington, NC. The company's research and development and manufacturing operations, Merrion BioPharma Ltd., are located in Dublin, Ireland.