Cangene Hires Vice President, Business Development

TSX: CNJ

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

WINNIPEG, March 27, 2012 /CNW/ - Cangene Corporation (TSX: CNJ), a biopharmaceutical company primarily focused on specialty plasma products, today announces that it has hired Mr. Kevin G. Taylor in the new position of Vice President, Business Development. Mr. Taylor brings an extensive and diversified background in pharmaceutical and biotechnology business development, strategic planning, drug development and commercialization, licensing, and alliance management. He will be based in Cangene's newly established Pennsylvania office.

"With the addition of Kevin to our senior management team we begin to move into the next phase. The first phase was to right the organizational structure, redirect our R&D efforts and re-establish our entrepreneurial culture. We are now finalizing a cohesive plan in which strategic business development, coupled with supporting R&D, is the key driver for Cangene's future; Kevin brings the skills and experience to actuate that plan," says John Sedor, Cangene's President and CEO.

Most recently, Mr. Taylor was Vice President, Business Development at Adolor Corporation, where he led collaborations, partnering initiatives and mergers with multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline plc.; he championed internal drug development programs; and he executed the company's strategic plan. This culminated in the acquisition of Adolor by Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in a transaction that realized a significant premium over Adolor's trading price. Prior to joining Adolor, Mr. Taylor was Vice President, Business Development at Codexis, Inc., where he secured a multi-product collaboration with Pfizer; led commercial partnering efforts with companies such as Eli Lilly and Company, Novartis AG and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries, Ltd.; and established international operations. He has also held marketing and business development positions at Elan Corporation, plc., Zeneca, Inc. and Cambrex Corporation. Mr. Taylor is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business management program and he holds a BSc in Polymer Science and Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University.

About Cangene Corporation
Cangene Corporation (TSX: CNJ), headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada, is one of the nation's oldest and largest biopharmaceutical companies and is focused on the development and commercialization of immune therapeutics. Cangene's products are sold worldwide and include products that have been accepted into the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile. Cangene has approximately 580 employees in six locations across North America. It operates manufacturing facilities in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Baltimore, Maryland (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Cangene bioPharma, Inc.) where it produces its own products and undertakes contract manufacturing for a number of customers. Cangene operates three U.S. and one Canadian plasma-collection facilities operating under the name Cangene Plasma Resources. For more information about Cangene, visit the Company's website at: www.cangene.com.

Cautionary note regarding Forward-looking Information
This document contains forward-looking statements about the Corporation, including its business operations, strategy, and expected financial performance and condition. Forward-looking statements include statements that are predictive in nature, depend upon or refer to future events or conditions, or include words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "will", "believes", "estimates", or negative versions thereof, and similar expressions. In addition, any statement that may be made concerning future financial performance (including revenues, earnings or growth rates), ongoing business strategies or prospects, future use, safety and efficacy of unapproved products or unapproved uses of products, and possible future action by the Corporation are also forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about future events and are inherently subject to, among other things, risks, uncertainties and assumptions about the Corporation, economic factors and the biopharmaceutical industry generally. They are not guarantees of future performance. Actual events and results could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements made by the Corporation due to, but not limited to, important factors such as sales levels; fluctuations in operating results; the Corporation'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; the availability and cost of raw materials, and in particular, the cost, availability and antibody concentration in plasma; progress and cost of clinical trials; 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 as well as general economic, political and market factors in North America and internationally; interest and foreign exchange rates; business competition; technological change; changes in government action, policies or regulations; changes in accounting policies and the effect of applying future accounting policy changes required under IFRS; unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings; catastrophic events; the Corporation's ability to complete strategic transactions; and other factors beyond the control of management.

The reader is cautioned that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive and there may be other factors listed in other filings with securities regulators, including factors set out under "Risk and Uncertainties" in the Corporation's Management Discussion and Analysis, which, along with other filings, is available for review at www.sedar.com. The reader is also cautioned to consider these and other factors carefully and not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Other than as specifically required by applicable law, the Corporation has no intention to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Jean Compton
Manager, Corporate Communications
Ph: [phone]
Email: [email protected]