Dragon Commences Shipment of Erythropoietin (EPO) to Three New International Markets : Dominican Republic, Trinidad-Tobago and K
November 15 2004 - 4:15PM
PR Newswire (US)
Dragon Commences Shipment of Erythropoietin (EPO) to Three New
International Markets : Dominican Republic, Trinidad-Tobago and
Kosovo VANCOUVER, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Dragon
Pharmaceutical Inc. (OTC BB: DRUG; TSX: DDD; BBSE:DRP) is pleased
to announce that Dragon's recombinant Erythropoietin (EPO) products
have been granted market approvals in the Dominican Republic and
Trinidad-Tobago as advised by Dragon's licensees. In addition, the
health authority of Kosovo has accepted our licensee's application
for the market approval and under such a circumstance, Dragon's
licensee is allowed to bid for government tender and has since won
such a tender. Initial shipment of our EPO products to all three
new international markets has started during the fourth quarter of
2004. Together with the already approved markets in China, Brazil,
India, Egypt, Peru and Ecuador, Dragon's EPO products are being
marketed in a total of 9 countries across Asia, Central and South
America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. "Even though these
three new markets do not represent a large market size, it is
important and encouraging to Dragon that our EPO is being approved
and becomes available in ever more countries around the globe. This
represents a most valuable confirmation of the quality and the
acceptability of our EPO. It further validates our international
strategy and rewards the efforts made by Dragon and our licensees.
We consider this especially important since we plan to leverage our
combined international regulatory and marketing expertise to
commercialize other pharmaceutical products coming from the
proposed and actively pursued acquisition of Oriental Wave," said
Dr. Alexander Wick, President and CEO of Dragon. About Dragon
Pharmaceutical Inc. -------------------------------- Dragon
Pharmaceutical Inc. is an international bio-pharmaceutical company
headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with a GMP production facility
in Nanjing, China. Dragon's EPO products are being marketed in 9
countries: China, India, Egypt, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador,
Trinidad-Tobago, Dominican Republic and Kosovo. Additional
regulatory submissions are in progress throughout Central and
Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa,
and the Company is preparing to enter the European Union market.
Dragon Pharmaceutical Inc. announced entering into a definitive
agreement to acquire Oriental Wave Holdings Ltd. The proposed
acquisition is subject to a number of conditions including
regulatory and shareholders' approval. If the proposed acquisition
is consummated, the combined company will have diverse and proven
product lines under 3 divisions: a Pharma division for prescription
and over-the-counter generic drugs, a Chemical division for bulk
pharmaceutical chemicals such as Clavulanic Acid, 7-ACA and
sterilized bulk drug production, and a Biotech division for EPO and
in-licensed G-CSF. For details, please refer to the press release
on June 14, 2004 - "Dragon and Oriental Wave Announce the Signing
of Definitive Agreement to Create a Competitive and Growth Oriented
Pharmaceutical Company" For further information, please contact
Garry Wong (email: ) at (604) 669-8817 or North America toll free
at 1-877-388-3784 or visit our web site at
http://www.dragonpharma.com/ or 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 this press release are forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future
performance. They involve risk, uncertainties and assumptions
including risks discussed under "Risks Associated With Dragon
Pharmaceutical" 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 definitive agreement to
acquire Oriental Wave announced on June 14, 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.
Dragon shareholders and other investors are urged to read the
definitive proxy statement that Dragon will file with the SEC and
send to shareholders in connection with the proposed business
acquisition 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 acquisition. Information regarding the participants
and their security holdings can be found in Dragon's most recent
Form 10-KSB filed with the SEC, which is available from the SEC and
Dragon as described below, and the definitive proxy statement when
it is filed with the SEC. The definitive 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,
Canada V6E 2E9 Telephone: (604) 669-8817 or North America Toll
Free: 1-877-388-3784 In addition to the preliminary 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 Pharmaceutical Inc.
CONTACT: Please contact Garry Wong (email: ) at (604) 669-8817 or
North America toll free at 1-877-388-3784 or visit our web site at
http://www.dragonpharma.com/ or http://www.dragonbiotech.com/.
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