Cangene Names John A. Sedor as President and Chief Executive Officer

30-year Industry Veteran Brings Exceptional Track Record of Driving Growth and Value at Global Biopharmaceutical Companies

Readers are referred to the cautionary note regarding Forward-looking Information at the end of this release

Listed TSX, Symbol: CNJ

TORONTO and WINNIPEG, Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ - Cangene Corporation (TSX: CNJ), a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on specialty plasma products, today announces that its board of directors has unanimously appointed John A. Sedor as president and chief executive officer. He will also serve on the Company's board as a director. Sedor joins Cangene on September 12, 2011. Michael Graham, Cangene's Chief Financial Officer, who has also been serving as interim president and CEO during the board's search process, will continue in his role as CFO.

"John's appointment is the culmination of a rigorous and thoughtful search process over the past six months," says board chair, Craig Baxter. "We believe he is the ideal CEO for the Company. He is a visionary leader and strong manager who brings a successful track record of growing companies and efficiently managing them to create value for shareholders, customers, partners and employees. We look forward to his leadership as we work together to build on our platform and start a new, exciting chapter at Cangene."

Sedor states, "I'm very pleased to join Cangene, a pioneering company with solid fundamentals, including successful biodefence and biopharma products, a strong balance sheet and talented people. Over the next few months, I intend to conduct a comprehensive, top-to-bottom review of the business and develop a plan to accelerate growth and enhance shareholder value at Cangene. I believe this Company has significant value-creation potential and intend to drive it to achieve that potential over the long-term."

Baxter concludes, "On behalf of the board, we extend our thanks to Michael Graham for his leadership of Cangene as interim CEO over the past six months."

Sedor brings more than 30 years of proven leadership in the global biopharmaceutical, consumer product and generic drug industries. He most recently served as president, CEO and director of CPEX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty drug delivery pharmaceutical company, including managing its spin-off from Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2008 and its sale in a premium, all-cash transaction in 2010. Prior to CPEX, Sedor was president of Bentley, which focused on the research, development, licensing and commercialization of generic and branded pharmaceutical products. Under his guidance, Bentley expanded its nanotechnology programs and successfully added more than 20 new product approvals in the European market. Previously, he also created Centeon LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Rhône-Poulenc Rorer and Hoechst AG focused on developing and commercializing plasma protein biotherapeutics.

Sedor's other previous roles include serving as president and CEO of Sandoz Inc. (USA) from 2001 until 2005. In that position, he led efforts to more than double net sales growth and overall profitability. Sedor previously also served in a variety of senior positions at Verion, Rorer Pharmaceutical Co., Revlon Health Care Group and Armour Pharmaceutical Company. He holds a B.S. in Pharmacy and Chemistry from Duquesne University.

About Cangene Corporation
Cangene is one of Canada's largest and earliest biopharmaceutical companies. It was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Cangene has approximately 700 employees in six locations across North America and its products are sold worldwide. It operates manufacturing facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Baltimore, Maryland where it produces its own products and undertakes contract manufacturing for a number of companies. Cangene operates three U.S. and one Canadian plasma-collection facilities branded as Cangene Plasma Resources (www.cangeneplasma.com). In addition, it has a regulatory affairs, sales and corporate communications office in Toronto, Ontario.

Cangene is focused on developing therapeutics for infectious diseases, and the Company uses patented manufacturing processes to produce plasma-derived and recombinant therapeutic proteins. Cangene has four FDA and/or Health Canada-approved hyperimmune products. In addition, the Company has several more products in development at various stages. Three of Cangene's products have been accepted into the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile—botulism antitoxin (investigational product), anthrax immune globulin (investigational product) and a vaccinia immune globulin, a product that may be used to counteract certain complications that may arise from smallpox vaccination. Capitalizing on its drug manufacturing expertise, Cangene also operates a significant contract-research and manufacturing business using the resources of Baltimore, Maryland-based Cangene bioPharma, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary; formerly Chesapeake Biological Laboratories, Inc.; www.cangenebiopharma.com). Cangene's website, www.cangene.com, includes product and investor information, including past news releases.

Forward-looking and risk information
The reader should be aware that Cangene's businesses are subject to risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified; consequently, actual results may differ materially from past results and those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such risks or uncertainties include, but are not limited to: the regulatory environment including the difficulty of predicting regulatory outcomes; changes in the value of the Canadian dollar; the Company's reliance on a small number of customers including government organizations; the demand for new products and the impact of competitive products, service and pricing; availability and cost of raw materials, especially the cost, availability and antibody concentration in plasma; fluctuations in operating results; government policies or actions; progress and cost of clinical trials; reliance on key strategic relationships; costs and possible development delays resulting from use of legal, regulatory or legislative strategies by the Company's competitors; uncertainty related to intellectual property protection and potential costs associated with its defence; the Company's exposure to lawsuits; and other matters beyond control of management. Risks and uncertainties are discussed more extensively in the MD&A section of the Company's most recent annual report and annual information form, which are available on the Company's website or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The preceding cautionary statements should be considered in connection with all written or oral statements, especially forward-looking statements, that are made by the Company or by persons acting on its behalf and in conjunction with its periodic filings with Securities Commissions, including those contained in the Company's news releases and most recently filed annual information form. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "plans", "will", "believes", "estimates", "anticipates", "intends", "may", "bodes" and other words of similar meaning (including negative and grammatical variations). Should known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, or should management's assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could vary materially from those anticipated. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly make or update any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

Cangene is a trademark belonging to Cangene Corporation.

SOURCE Cangene Corporation