Dragon Announces Worldwide Licensing Rights, excluding China, For Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (rhG-CSF) VANCOUVER, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dragon Pharmaceutical Inc. (TSX: DDD; OTC BB: DRUG) today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Suzhou Zhongkai Bio-Pharmaceuticals Company Limited ("Zhongkai") to in- license the exclusive right to commercialize its Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor ("rhG-CSF") product worldwide, excluding the People's Republic of China (the "Agreement"). Using a non-mammalian cell fermentation technique (e.coli) with an in-house developed and patented purification process in the 6000m(2) Chinese State Food and Drug Administration ("SFD&A") cGMP-approved manufacturing facility in Suzhou, China, Zhongkai is one of the leading producers of rhG-CSF product, with approximately 16% market share in China, where competition is fierce with at least 20 other domestic producers. Dragon chose to in-license Zhongkai's rhG-CSF based on the company's evident superiority in compliance with cGMP, its well-documented processes, and the purity, safety, and efficacy of its product. Zhongkai's rhG-CSF is currently approved in China for oncology indication. Human G-CSF is a glycoprotein which regulates the production and release of functional neutrophils from the bone marrow. Myelosuppressive chemotherapy often upsets the patient's white blood cell count, leading to febrile neutropenia. The primary indications for rhG-CSF are in chemotherapy associated with the treatment of various cancers. Zhongkai's product containing rhG-CSF causes marked increases in peripheral blood neutrophil counts within twenty four to thirty six hours. rhG-CSF functions within the body to stimulate production of more white blood cells, helping to reverse neutropenia so that cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy can continue with as near to normal white blood cell counts as possible. In some cancer patients, chemotherapy must actually be interrupted until neutropenia has been separately managed and brought under control, and in the case of certain tumor types, successful chemotherapy must be given according to a correct dosage and schedule. "The competition is fierce in China with about 20 G-CSF products already in the market. As a result, we decided to partner with a leading producer in the market and focusing on developing the international market outside of China. This will bring much better economic value to Dragon without incurring significant risk in research and developing and the high investment to bring the drug into production" said Dr. Alexander Wick, President and CEO of Dragon. "This is an excellent opportunity for both Dragon and Zhongkai. Under the agreement, Dragon will leverage its regulatory approval knowledge and expertise from launching its own rh-Erythropoietin ("EPO") business internationally and will also utilize its existing licensing partnerships developed over time around the world to bring Zhongkai's rhG-CSF to the international market. A good quality, competitive bio-generic drug from China, like Zhongkai's rhG-CSF product, warrants the market exposure opportunities from both developing and developed countries. As a matter of fact, our international marketing and distribution partners have been quite keenly awaiting this product. Similar to Dragon's current strategy for the EPO product which has been approved in a number of developing countries and is in preparation to enter the European market, Dragon intends to commercialize the rhG-CSF initially in non-patented developing countries and will eventually extend the market coverage to developed countries upon expiry of the relevant patents. In the case of the European Union market, we believe that the relevant patents will expire in 2006 and by that time, we'll have an infrastructure, partnership and invaluable experience from launching our EPO product in the European Union market." "This partnership with Zhongkai is part of our continued initiative to utilize our strengths and expertise in commercializing other in-house or in-licensed pharmaceutical products internationally. We have just announced entering into a letter of intent to merge with Oriental Wave Holding Ltd., on March 24, 2004, which would create a company that offers biotech generic drugs, chemical generic drugs and chemical intermediate produced in China competitively and marketed in China and international markets." said Dr. Wick. "We believe that the combined company will be ready to fully leverage the production infrastructure and sales network in China, diverse and proven product lines and distribution partnership around the world to make the combined company a serious player in the global pharmaceutical industry." About Suzhou Zhongkai Bio-Pharmaceuticals Company Limited --------------------------------------------------------- Founded in 1996, Suzhou Zhongkai Bio-Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Wuzhong Industrial Co. Limited. Zhongkai is currently engaged in research and development for two additional therapeutics: one recombinant drug, and the other with the development & refinement of an existing therapeutic based on Traditional Chinese Medicine. About Dragon Pharmaceutical Inc. -------------------------------- Dragon Pharmaceutical Inc. is an international biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with a GMP production facility in Nanjing, China. Dragon's EPO is currently approved to treat anemia due to renal failure and for surgery patients in China, India, Brazil, Egypt and Peru. Additional regulatory submissions are in progress throughout Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. Dragon Pharmaceutical Inc. announced entering into a letter of intent to merge with Oriental Wave Holdings, Ltd. The proposed merger is subject to a number of conditions, including entering into a definitive agreement. If the merger is consummated, Dragon will be the surviving company and will be organized in three divisions: Chemical Drug division, Chemical Intermediate division and Biotech division with 3 existing cGMP manufacturing facilities and 1 under final construction. For details, please refer to the press releases on March 24, 2004 - "Dragon Announces a Proposed Merger with a Profitable, Fully-integrated Pharmaceutical Company" and on April 13, 2004 - "Dragon Announces Update on the Letter of Intent to Merge with Oriental Wave Holding Ltd." For further information, please contact Garry Wong (email: ) at (604) 669-8817 or North American toll free at 1-877-388-3784 or visit our web site at http://www.dragonbiotech.com/ Forward Looking Statement: Cautionary Statement for Purposes of the "Safe Harbor" Provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: All statements, other than historical facts, included in the foregoing press release are forward-looking statements. These forward looking statements include, but are not limited to management's belief that the Company can successfully market in Europe and elsewhere the product licensed from Zhongkai, that the Company will become a serious player in the global pharmaceutical industry and that the Company and Oriental Wave will enter into a definitive merger agreement and the proposed merger will be consummated. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. They involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions including risks discussed under "Risks Associated With Dragon Pharmaceuticals" in the Company's annual report on Form 10-KSB, SEC File No.: 0-27937 and other documents filed with the SEC. The Company does not undertake the obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. The foregoing may be deemed to be soliciting materials of Dragon in connection with its Letter of Intent to merge with Oriental Wave announced on March 24, 2004. This disclosure is being made in connection with Regulation of Takeovers and Security Holder Communications (Release Nos. 33-7760 and 34-42055) adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and Rule 14a-12 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. If a definitive agreement is entered into, Dragon shareholders and other investors are urged to read the proxy statement that Dragon will file with the SEC in connection with the proposed merger because it will contain important information about Dragon, Oriental Wave and related matters. Dragon and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in Dragon's solicitation of proxies from Dragon shareholders in connection with the proposed merger. Information regarding the participants and their security holdings can be found in each of Dragon's most recent proxy statement filed with and Form 10-KSB to be filed with the SEC, which are or will be available from the SEC and Dragon as described below, and the proxy statement when it is filed with the SEC. After it is filed with the SEC, the proxy statement will be available for free, both on the SEC web site (http://www.sec.gov/) and from Dragon as follows: Garry Wong Dragon Pharmaceutical, Inc 1900 - 1055 West Hastings Street Vancouver, British Columbia V6E 2E9 Tel: 604-669-8817 Fax: 604-669-4243 Email: In addition to the proposed proxy statement, Dragon files annual, quarterly and special reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. You may read and copy any reports, statements or other information filed by Dragon at the SEC's public reference rooms at 450 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20549 or at the SEC's other public reference rooms in New York and Chicago. Please call the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330 for further information on the public reference rooms. Dragon filings with the SEC are also available to the public from commercial document-retrieval services and on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov/. DATASOURCE: Dragon Pharmaceuticals Inc. CONTACT: Garry Wong (email: ) at (604) 669-8817 or North American toll free at 1-877-388-3784 or visit our web site at http://www.dragonbiotech.com/

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