Procitius Research received the Award for Export Excellence from the Export Promotion Council for Export Oriented units and Special Economic Zones(EPCES). The division qualifi ed for the award in Category II- Export Oriented Unit, Small Scale Industries
segment. The awards were presented on 3 February 2009 at a function held at the Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi. Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry was the chief guest at the function.

Procitius Research is the contract research division of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd. Exports from EOUs and SEZs were to the extent of Rs 2,21,066 crores in 2007-08 as against Rs 33,647 crores in 2002-03 and is expected to cross Rs 2,50,000 crores this year.

ProCitius Research expanded its research services by commencing operations at the extended facilities situated at Ticel Park, Taramani, Chennai for contract research. The new facility, has an exclusive wing for biology services. Phase I is currently operational and the division hopes to get the Phase II going soon.

ProCitius Research is all set to start-up activities at the TICEL Bio Park, Chennai, a unit of Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO), operational since November 2004. It is situated in Taramani, close to the IT corridor.

TICEL Bio Park has world class infrastructure for Biotech Research and Development, implemented in 5 acres of land at a capital outlay of Rs. 625 million (US$ 12.5 million). It has now achieved 88% occupancy with national and international clients.

Indus BioSciences and Sanmar Speciality Chemicals to support BioFocus DPI

Mechelen, Belgium; 23 June, 2006 – Galapagos NV (Euronext & LSE: GLPG), a genomics-based drug discovery company, announced today that its service division BioFocus DPI has signed chemistry collaborations with Indus Biosciences, a subsidiary of CiVentiChem LLC in Hyderabad, and ProCitius, a division of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Limited in Chennai, both providers of integrated chemistry services to life sciences companies. Both companies will carry out chemistry services for the Discovery Products division of BioFocus DPI, with an additional option to provide support for client projects conducted by the BioFocus DPI Medicinal Chemistry division.

India offers world-class chemistry capabilities with a very large resource pool of qualified chemists. Many pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies either have established their own facilities in India, or outsourced part of their chemistry to India-based contract research organizations. This outsourcing enables BioFocus DPI and its partners to benefit from the excellent cost-effective chemistry services available on the Indian sub continent, while also enabling its clients to outsource work into Indus BioSciences and Sanmar under the expert management of BioFocus DPI scientists.

India offers world-class chemistry capabilities with a very large resource pool of qualified chemists. Many pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies either have established their own facilities in India, or outsourced part of their chemistry to India-based contract research organizations. This outsourcing enables BioFocus DPI and its partners to benefit from the excellent cost-effective chemistry services available on the Indian sub continent, while also enabling its clients to outsource work into Indus BioSciences and Sanmar under the expert management of BioFocus DPI scientists.

“These strategic outsourcing agreements with CiVentiChem and Sanmar complement our acquisition of DPI’s drug discovery operations,” said Onno van de Stolpe, CEO of Galapagos. “Our in-house therapeutic programs and the continuing growth of BioFocus DPI demand everincreasing chemistry resources, and this is a timely move to ensure sufficient, cost effective capacity moving forward.”

"We are very pleased that Galapagos and BioFocus DPI have chosen CiVentiChem and its subsidiary Indus Biosciences for our value-added services in discovery R&D chemistry and custom synthesis to complement their internal capabilities,” said Bhaskar Venepalli, Ph.D., President and CEO of CiVentiChem.

“We are delighted to collaborate with BioFocus DPI. We believe that the target discovery and drug discovery services of BioFocus DPI would be well complemented by the chemistry research skills of ProCitius, enabling this partnership to deliver immense value to life sciences companies,” said Murli Ramachandran, Managing Director, Sanmar Speciality Chemicals Ltd.

Galapagos is a publicly traded, genomics-based drug discovery company (Euronext Brussels, GLPG; Euronext Amsterdam, GLPGA, London AiM: GLPG) that has drug discovery programs based on proprietary, novel targets in bone and joint diseases - osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and rheumatoid arthritis. Galapagos offers a full suite of target-to-drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies through its division BioFocus DPI, encompassing target discovery and drug discovery services through to delivery of pre clinical candidates. In addition, BioFocus DPI provides adenoviral reagents for rapid identification and validation of novel drug targets and compound libraries for drug screening. Galapagos currently employs more than 320 people, including 144 PhDs, and operates facilities in seven countries, with global headquarters in Mechelen, Belgium. More information about Galapagos and BioFocus DPI can be found at www.glpg.com.

CiVentiChem is a rapidly growing CRO company offering medicinal chemistry and custom synthesis services in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and through its subsidiary Indus Biosciences, located in Hyderabad, India. Since its formation in 1994, CiVentiChem has established excellent working relationships with numerous leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. More information about the capabilities of CiVentiChem and Indus Biosciences can be obtained at the web site, www.cvchem.com and www.indusbio.com.

Sanmar Speciality Chemicals is a member of the Sanmar Group, one of India's most respected business houses, Through its research arm, ProCitius Research, with its state-of the-art facilities, it offers world class services in contract research and custom synthesis. It has an impressive track record with major pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers in Europe and the United States of America. More information about the capabilities of Sanmar Speciality Chemicals can be obtained at the web site,www.sanmargroup.com/SSCLmain.htm.