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Bangkok, July 28, 2010 – Nichi-Iko today finalized an agreement with DKSH that will lead to a new phase of international expansion of the Japanese company in South East Asia. DKSH will provide the commercial platform to enable Nichi-Iko to enter the three key markets, Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. At the same time, DKSH will be able to offer its own customers a unique range of highquality Japanese branded generic medicine in the respective markets.

Prior to signing this contract, DKSH’s Business Unit Performance Materials and Nichi-Iko have already been collaborating successfully in Japan for many years, with DKSH providing API sourcing solutions to Nichi-Iko. As such a long-standing reliable partner, DKSH has now also been selected to support Nichi-Iko in expanding its presence in other Asian markets, through DKSH’s Business Unit Healthcare. Nichi-Iko has selected this region as the most suitable area for expanding its brand since South East Asia shows good economic growth prospects and the generic segments are still relatively under-developed with a limited range of high quality products available in the market.

“We have been building a relationship based on trust with the DKSH Group over the years in the business of introducing drug substances and drug products. DKSH is a partner with whom we can expand our business based on this relationship of trust. Furthermore, they have strong selling and distribution networks for medicines and operate an extremely professional distribution platform. Their track record of helping companies enter and grow in these markets is tried and tested. For these reasons, we selected DKSH as our best partner”, comments Dr. Yuichi Tamura, President and CEO of Nichi-Iko.

“We are very pleased that our long-standing experience as the leading Market Expansion Services provider in Asia has been recognized by Nichi- Iko, and we have been selected as the best partner for their business objectives”, says Charles Toomey, Global Business Unit Manager Healthcare of DKSH. “We have a strong customer base in the markets concerned and are confident that these local business partners will also be excited about the opportunity to have access to the high quality product range from Nichi-Iko’s pharmaceutical products.”

Nichi-Iko Pharmaceutical Ltd., headquartered in Toyama, Japan, is the leading manufacturer and distributor of generic medicine in Japan. Nichi- Iko specializes in treatments for disorders of the circulatory, digestive, respiratory, central, and peripheral nervous systems. Through a series of acquisitions it has broadened its product range to almost 600 different products over the past years.

In 2009, Nichi-Iko generated annual gross revenues of 54.8 billion Yen. With 846 employees in Japan, Nichi-Iko manufactures, sells, distributes, exports, and imports various types of pharmaceuticals. It has been doing business in Japan since 1965 and is now expanding its business to other fast-growing Asian markets.

DKSH is the leading Market Expansion Services Group with a focus on Asia. As the term "Market Expansion Services" suggests, DKSH helps other companies and brands to grow their business in new or existing markets.

With 560 business locations in 35 countries – 20 of them in Europe and the Americas – and 22,000 specialized staff it is one of the top 20 Swiss companies ranked by sales and employees. In 2009, DKSH generated annual gross revenues of CHF 8,600 million.

DKSH’s

is the leading Market Expansion Services provider for healthcare companies seeking to grow their business in Asia, offering a wide range of solutions that extend from product registration, marketing and sales, to physical distribution. Products available through DKSH Healthcare include ethical pharmaceuticals, consumer health, over-the-counter (OTC), as well as medical devices.

With 108 business locations in 11 countries and 7,000 specialized staff, Business Unit Healthcare generated annual gross revenues of CHF 3,135 million in 2009.