Press Releases

Somerset, N.J., January 06, 2006 – Cardinal Health, the leading provider of products and services supporting the health care industry, today announced it has entered a feasibility and commercial option agreement with Centocor, Inc. to develop cell lines using Cardinal Health’s Gene Product Expression (GPEx™) cell line engineering technology. Cardinal Health will use its patented GPEx™ technology to engineer cell lines expressing undisclosed Centocor monoclonal antibodies.

 

Cardinal Health’s GPEx™ technology enables rapid genetic engineering of stable mammalian cell lines.  These cell lines are used to produce human proteins and antibodies, which belong to the rapidly growing class of medicines known as biopharmaceuticals.

 

“We are very pleased that Centocor, with their great depth of experience and success in the areas of both antibody R&D and commercialization, has chosen to evaluate our GPEx™ technology with several of their antibodies,” said Paul Weiss, PhD, president of Cardinal Health’s biopharmaceutical development services center in Middleton, Wisconsin.  “We have made great progress in developing both the GPEx™ technology, as well as our manufacturing capabilities, especially for antibodies, and are looking forward to proving our ability to rapidly engineer stable, high expressing cell lines for Centocor to evaluate.”

 

In addition to enabling rapid cell line development and availability of candidate gene products, the GPEx™ technology is well suited for both efficient pilot and large-scale production of antibodies and other therapeutic recombinant proteins.

 

Through insertion of multiple copies of the gene, GPEx™ can generate, in as little as half the time required using traditional methods, stable cell lines that exhibit significantly higher levels of expression than those cell lines generated by other methods. 

 

Cardinal Health has integrated the GPEx™ technology with clinical scale mammalian cell culture manufacturing to provide a more rapid way for its clients to bring biopharmaceutical products into clinical development.

 

 

“This is an exciting time for Cardinal Health to be working in the biotechnology market, and to be offering services such as our GPEx™ technology to collaborators such as Centocor,” said John Lowry, president and COO of the Pharmaceutical Technologies and Services group of Cardinal Health.  “As we continue to integrate these services, we are creating an offering that is unmatched in terms of breadth for both clinical and commercial projects, as we can literally go from the gene for an antibody to packaged vials distributed to the clinic.”

 

Financial terms of the agreement between Centocor and Cardinal Health were not disclosed, and Centocor does have the option of expanding the collaboration depending on the evaluation of these first GPEx™ cell lines.

 

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $75 billion, global company serving the health-care industry with a broad portfolio of products and services.  It manufactures packages and distributes pharmaceuticals and medical supplies, offers a range of clinical services and develops automation products that improve the management and delivery of supplies and medication for hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies.  Through this diverse offering, Cardinal Health delivers integrated health-care solutions that help customers reduce their costs, improve efficiency and deliver better care to patients.  Ranked No. 16 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 55,000 people on six continents.  More information about the company may be found at www.cardinalhealth.com.

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Except for historical information, all other information in this news release consists of forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected, anticipated or implied. The most significant of these uncertainties are described in Cardinal Health's Form 10-K, Form 8-K and Form 10-Q reports (including all amendments to those reports) and exhibits to those reports, and include (but are not limited to) the following: the costs, difficulties, and uncertainties related to the implementation of organizational changes and the integration of acquired businesses; the loss of one or more key customer or supplier relationships or changes to the terms of those relationships; changes in the distribution patterns or reimbursement rates for health-care products and/or services; the results, consequences, effects or timing of any inquiry or investigation by any regulatory authority or any legal and administrative proceedings; the impact of previously announced restatements; difficulties or delays or increased costs in implementing its global restructuring program, including facility rationalizations; difficulties in opening new facilities or fully utilizing existing capacity; difficulties and uncertainties associated with business model transitions; and general economic and market conditions. Cardinal Health undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward- looking statement.