Kendle Receives Approval From Indian Government to Proceed With Development of Operations Center in Special Economic Zone

CINCINNATI, March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Kendle (Nasdaq: KNDL), a leading, global full-service clinical research organization, today announced the Company has received approval from Indian authorities to proceed with development of a new operations center in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the upcoming Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Knowledge Corridor.  The new SEZ center represents an important and strategic investment for Kendle and demonstrates the Company's commitment to further invest in Asia/Pacific to meet customer needs.  The new unit is expected to be operational by mid April.

"Continued expansion throughout the Asia/Pacific region is crucial to the future growth of Kendle," said Stephen Cutler, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. "Our increased capacity in the region will allow us to better meet the growing demands of our customers who are seeking to capitalize on India's rapidly expanding high-quality biopharmaceutical capabilities.  The new SEZ operations center will be ideally suited to deliver best-in-class services to our customers seeking high-quality, innovative and cost-effective solutions for their clinical development needs."

The SEZ operations center will be a high-end, world-class center of excellence focusing on quality delivery of clinical data management, medical writing, pharmacovigilance/safety, biostatistics/programming and other knowledge processing-related services.  These clinical support services will be integrated under one roof, providing an efficient operations hub for the region.

Kendle's SEZ operations center initially will house approximately 50 associates and is expected to scale up to approximately 300 associates in the near term.  The unit is positioned to further expand very quickly if necessary to meet customer demand.  The unique geography of the unit, in close proximity to multiple universities as well as the modern city of Ahmedabad, provides a vast untapped talent pool ideal for building and expanding a high-tech workforce.

Kendle's expansion in the quickly maturing India market reflects the growing importance of the country to the global clinical research market.  With more than one billion people, a growing and improving research infrastructure, an efficient and evolving regulatory setting, favorable intellectual property laws, a large pool of medical professionals and established research credentials, India is quickly becoming a world power in clinical research.  By 2012, analysts project that more than 65 percent of all FDA-regulated trials will take place outside the United States.  This is reflected in the Indian biotechnology market, which is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 30 percent, and the Indian CRO market, which is expected to see growth of 49 percent annually.

Kendle currently operates throughout the Asia/Pacific region from its offices in Ahmedabad and New Delhi, India; Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, China; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Bangkok, Thailand; Manila, Philippines; Singapore; and Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

About Kendle

Kendle International Inc. (Nasdaq: KNDL) is a leading global clinical research organization providing the full range of early- to late-stage clinical development services for the world's biopharmaceutical industry. Our focus is on innovative solutions that reduce cycle times for our customers and accelerate the delivery of life-enhancing drugs to market for the benefit of patients worldwide. As one of the world's largest global providers of Phase I-IV services, we offer experience spanning more than 100 countries, along with industry-leading patient access and retention capabilities and broad therapeutic expertise, to meet our customers' clinical development challenges.

Additional information and investor kits are available upon request from Kendle, 441 Vine Street, Suite 500, Cincinnati, OH 45202 or from the Company's Web site at www.kendle.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and information contained in this press release may be deemed to be forward-looking statements under federal securities laws and the provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and Kendle intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe-harbor created thereby. All such forward-looking statements, including the statements contained herein regarding anticipated trends from Kendle's opening of the Special Economic Zone Operations Center in Ahmedabad, India are based largely on management's expectations and are subject to and qualified by risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties include those risks as detailed from time to time in Kendle's Annual Report on Form 10-K as well as periodic reports filed with the SEC.   All information in this press release is current as of March 3, 2010. The Company undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in the Company's expectations.

SOURCE Kendle International Inc.