WAYNE, Pa., May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Encorium Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: ENCO), a full service multinational contract research organization (CRO) that provides design, development, and management capabilities for clinical trials and patient registries to many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, today announced that the initial non-binding letter of intent with respect to its U.S. business has been terminated and that the Company has entered into another letter of intent with Pierrel SpA, an international contract research organization listed on Milano's Stock Exchange. Subject to the negotiation of a definitive agreement, pursuant to the letter of intent, Pierrel has the right to purchase the U.S. Line of Business for a purchase price equal to a percentage of the Company's U.S. backlog calculated as of the closing or $1.35 million, whichever is greater, less the amount, if any, that assumed current liabilities, less assumed current assets exceeds $350,000. In addition to the purchase price payable at closing, Pierrel will pay Encorium a 10% commission on the value of any new contract, net of pass-through costs, executed after the closing date but prior to December 31, 2009, which constitute part of the Company's pipeline at closing. Encorium Group plans to file a Current Report on Form 8-K with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission today containing a more detailed description of the parties' rights and obligations under the agreement. About Encorium Group, Inc. Encorium Group, Inc. is a global clinical research organization specializing in the design and management of complex clinical trials and Patient Registries for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company's mission is to provide its clients with high quality, full-service support for their biopharmaceutical and medical device development programs. Encorium offers therapeutic expertise, experienced team management and advanced technologies. The Company has drug and biologics development as well as clinical trial experience across a wide variety of therapeutic areas such as infectious diseases, cardiovascular, vaccines, oncology, diabetes endocrinology/metabolism, gene therapy, immunology, neurology, gastroenterology, dermatology, hepatology, women's health and respiratory medicine. Encorium believes that its expertise in the design of complex clinical trials, its therapeutic experience and commitment to excellence, and its application of innovative technologies, offer its clients a means to more quickly and cost effectively move products through the clinical development process. Encorium is headquartered in Wayne, Pennsylvania with its European base of operations in Espoo, Finland. The Company has a geographic footprint that includes over one billion people in North America, Western/Central/Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltics. This press release contains forward-looking statements identified by words such as "estimate," "project," "expect," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and similar expressions regarding the potential sale of the U.S. business and our expectations regarding the effects of such transactions. Those statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those discussed. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: (i) the timing of the closing, if any, of the transaction; (ii) the completion to the purchaser's satisfaction of due diligence; (iii) our ability to negotiate a definitive agreements with the Purchaser; (iv) the possibility that the transaction may not close; and (vi) the risk that any distributions to stockholders in connection with the transaction and with respect to the potential sale of Encorium Oy will not result in a premium to the current stock price. Additional risks and uncertainties that could affect the Company's future operating results and financial condition generally include, without limitation: (i) the risk that we may not have sufficient funds to operate our business; (ii)our success in attracting new business and retaining existing clients and projects; (iii) the size, duration and timing of clinical trials we are currently managing may change unexpectedly; (iv) the termination, delay or cancellation of clinical trials we are currently managing could cause revenues and cash-on-hand to decline unexpectedly; (v) the timing difference between our receipt of contract milestone or scheduled payments and our incurring costs to manage these trials; (vi) outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries; (vii) the ability to maintain profit margins in a competitive marketplace; (viii) our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; (ix) the sensitivity of our business to general economic conditions; (x) other economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices; (xi) announced awards received from existing and potential customers are not definitive until fully negotiated contracts are executed by the parties; (xii) our backlog may not be indicative of future results and may not generate the revenues expected; (xiii) our ability to successfully integrate the business of Remedium Oy, which we acquired on November 1, 2006; (xiv) the performance of the combined businesses to operate successfully and generate growth; and (xv) uncertainties regarding the availability of additional capital and continued listing of our common stock on Nasdaq. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement. We undertake no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Please refer to the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Form 10-K for a more complete discussion of factors which could cause our actual results and financial position to change. You should not place any undue reliance on these forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. Additional information concerning factors that might affect our business or stock price which could cause actual results to materially differ from those in forward-looking statements is contained in Encorium Group's SEC filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and other periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, copies of which are available upon request from Encorium Group's investor relations department. CONTACT: Encorium Group, Inc. Cameron Associates Philip L. Calamia, Chief Financial Officer Alison Ziegler 610-975-9533 212-554-5469 http://www.encorium.com/ DATASOURCE: Encorium Group, Inc. CONTACT: Philip L. Calamia, Chief Financial Officer, Encorium Group, Inc., +1-610-975-9533; or Alison Ziegler, Cameron Associates, +1-212-554-5469, Web Site: http://www.encorium.com/

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