COVANCE CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY MILESTONE IN SINGAPORE

Singapore, April 29, 2006 — On the occasion of its 10th year of operations in Singapore, Covance Inc. today announced the opening of its newly expanded central laboratory here, making it one of the largest in South East Asia. The Singapore laboratory now has four times its former capacity to support Covance's biopharmaceutical clients in their global clinical trials.

Ms Deborah Tanner, Senior Vice President of Covance Inc. and President of Covance Central Laboratory Services, who is in Singapore for the official opening of the expanded central laboratory by Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts & Health, Dr Balaji Sadasivan, said, "This, the second expansion of our facility in Singapore, is indicative of Covance's commitment to support the growth and opportunities that we see in the region. We are investing through on-going expansion of our building and laboratory capacity, and through a continuing focus on implementing standardised systems, processes and technology throughout our global network of laboratories."

In conveying the Singapore Government's support for development of the Biomedical Sciences industry, Dr Balaji said, "We are pleased that Covance has expanded its size of the current central laboratory. This expansion is timely and well positioned to capitalise on the increased clinical trial outsourcing by global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to Singapore and the Asia Pacific. It also underlines Singapore's position today to establish a comprehensive infrastructure dedicated to support the Biomedical Sciences industry."

Improving regulatory environment helps Covance direct more clinical trials to Asia
"Although lengthy regulatory timelines in some Asian countries, such as China, can be a challenge when conducting clinical trials, the overall regulatory picture in the region is improving," said Ms Tanner. "One example of the more facilitative regulatory environment is the collaboration between Singapore's Health Sciences Authority (HSA) and Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)." Further, there have been multiple regulatory reforms introduced to reduce significantly regulatory timelines in certain Asian markets. She said that the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is working to provide a framework for harmonisation of requirements for ASEAN countries and improve the regulatory infrastructure needed to provide quality in regulatory review procedures.

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