American Pharmaceutical Partners and Technoflex Announce Joint Venture to Establish Sterile Bag-Fill Capability for Injectable Drugs in the U.S.

The partnership will manufacture sterile-filled injectable drugs at APP's Grand Island, N.Y. facility.

15/12/05 SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -- American Pharmaceutical Partners, Inc. (Nasdaq: APPX), a leading manufacturer of sterile injectable generic drugs for the U.S. and Canada, and Technoflex S.A. of France, a leading supplier of polypropylene and PVC bags and closures to the global pharmaceutical industry, are forming a joint venture to manufacture sterile-filled injectable drugs at APP's Grand Island, N.Y. facility. Technoflex will provide its extensive sterile bag manufacturing and filling expertise and will supply packaging components to the joint venture, while APP will contribute its regulatory and marketing expertise and resources. The joint venture, Readyflex Solutions, L.L.C., will be majority owned by APP and will be managed by a joint committee under the supervision of APP. Filled infusion bags represent about 34% of total infusion systems, which also include frozen bags and branded infusion systems.

Patrick Soon-Shiong, Chairman & CEO of APP said, "We are very pleased to embark on this strategic joint venture with Technoflex, which will allow APP to leverage its existing regulatory and marketing strengths by simultaneously developing ANDAs for both the vial and sterile bag presentations of injectable drugs. This will provide APP with the ability to supplement its extensive line of hospital injectable vials to provide our customers with an even broader array of cost effective, essential products in both vials and plastic bags. We look forward to expanding into this growing market segment."

Jean-Jacques Chappaz, Directeur General of Technoflex stated, "Technoflex is pleased to have joined with APP to provide bag filling services for APP's aggressive product launch schedule. This joint venture will also offer contract filling to other pharma companies seeking outsourcing. The integration of this new filling service to Technoflex's leading position in flexible packaging will enhance our complete outsourcing solution."