PPD to Expand Global Central Lab Services into Singapore

PPD to Expand Global Central Lab Services into Singapore

Expediting delivery and improving costs for clients

WILMINGTON, N.C. (December 16, 2008) - PPD, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPDI) today announced it plans to expand its global central lab services into Singapore in response to growing client demand in Southeast Asia. The lab is expected to begin operations in mid-2009 and will provide biopharmaceutical clients with a comprehensive range of highly customized lab services.

The new lab strengthens PPD's presence in Singapore, where for a number of years the company has provided a range of clinical development services including clinical trial management and monitoring, patient recruitment, site identification and regulatory affairs.

"Southeast Asia is an attractive region for conducting clinical trials, and Singapore is an important biopharmaceutical hub," said Agostino L. Fede, Ph.D., senior vice president of PPD and head of PPD's global central labs. "Establishing a direct lab presence in Singapore will enhance our abilities to reduce turnaround time and deliver high quality specimens and laboratory results at better logistics costs for our clients."

The equipment in Singapore is identical to platforms located at PPD's global central labs in Brussels, Belgium; Highland Heights, Ky.; and Beijing, China. Assays will be extensively cross validated among PPD's locations to produce combinable data.

PPD's Singapore lab will interface directly with ConneXion, the company's proprietary global computer system, to ensure consistent management and real-time reporting. Minutes thereafter, clients can view and analyze their results with those from other global central labs facilities in PPD Clicks(TM), a secure Web site the company launched earlier this year.

This year marks PPD's 20th anniversary providing global central lab services.

PPD is a leading global contract research organization providing discovery, development and post-approval services as well as compound partnering programs. Our clients and partners include pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government organizations. With offices in 33 countries and more than 10,500 professionals worldwide, PPD applies innovative technologies, therapeutic expertise and a commitment to quality to help its clients and partners maximize returns on their R&D investments and accelerate the delivery of safe and effective therapeutics to patients. For more information, visit our Web site at http://www.ppdi.com.

Except for historical information, all of the statements, expectations and assumptions contained in this news release, including expectations and assumptions about the expansion of PPD global central lab services, are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Although PPD attempts to be accurate in making these forward-looking statements, it is possible that future circumstances might differ from the assumptions on which such statements are based. In addition, other important factors which could cause results to differ materially include the following: economic conditions and outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, academic and government industry segments; competition within the outsourcing industry; success in sales growth; loss of large contracts; increased cancellation rates; rapid technological advances that make our products and services less competitive; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; risks associated with and dependence on collaborative relationships; risks associated with the development and commercialization of drugs, including earnings dilution and obtaining regulatory approval; risks associated with acquisitions and investments, such as impairments; risks that we may not continue our dividend policy; and the other risk factors set forth from time to time in the SEC filings for PPD, copies of which are available free of charge upon request from the PPD investor relations department.