Helsinn Birex Pharmaceuticals Wins Responsible Care Award for Waste Management

DUBLIN, December 16 - Helsinn, the Swiss pharmaceutical group, announced today that its Dublin
plant, Helsinn Birex Pharmaceuticals (HBP), has been awarded the Irish 2009
Responsible Care(R) Award for Waste Management by PharmaChemical Ireland, the
industry association representing the Irish chemical and pharmaceutical
sector.

"Environmental protection is key to Helsinn and to Helsinn staff", said
Riccardo Braglia, CEO of Helsinn Group. "Since our foundation, we have been
committed to excellent health, safety and environmental management in all our
plants worldwide. The Responsible Care Award is one in a series of
acknowledgements we have received in this area so far", he concluded. The
Helsinn project, which involved the application of lean manufacturing
concepts, was cited as an excellent demonstration of waste minimisation and
recycling involving strong employee engagement. It encompassed two aspects of
waste management, the reduction of waste at source by developing a solution
to recycle the waste internally, and a scientific evaluation of a waste
stream to optimise the safest means of disposal.

Responsible Care(R) is the chemical industry's global voluntary
initiative under which companies, through their national associations, work
together to continuously improve their health, safety and environmental
performance, and to communicate with stakeholders about their products and
processes.

The Responsible Care(R) ethic helps industry to operate safely,
profitably and with due care for future generations, and was commended by
UNEP as making a significant contribution to sustainable development at the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002.

About the Helsinn Group

Helsinn is a privately owned pharmaceutical group with headquarters in
Lugano, Switzerland. Helsinn's unique business model is focused on the
licensing of pharmaceuticals and medical devices in therapeutic niche areas.
The Group in-licenses early stage new chemical entities, completes their
development from the performance of pre-clinical/clinical studies
and Chemistry, Manufacturing and Control (CMC) development, to the
filing for and attainment of their market approval worldwide.

Helsinn's products are sold directly, through the Group subsidiaries, or
eventually out-licensed to its network of local marketing and commercial
partners, selected for their deep in-market knowledge and know-how, and
assisted and supported with a full range of product and scientific management
services, including commercial, regulatory, financial, legal and medical
marketing advice.

The active pharmaceutical ingredients and the finished dosage forms are
manufactured at Helsinn's cGMP facilities in Switzerland and Ireland, and
supplied worldwide to its customers.

Helsinn is the worldwide licensor of palonosetron, a second generation
5-HT3 receptor antagonist, for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea
and vomiting (CINV) and of post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV) in
patients with cancer, and of the original nimesulide, a non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) distributed in more than 50 countries
worldwide.

Helsinn, with a workforce of around 450 employees in Switzerland, Ireland
and USA, reported a 2008 turnover of over CHF 280.3 million (about EUR 178
million), covering 75 countries worldwide, with over 20% of this turnover
invested in R&D.

    Contact person at Helsinn Healthcare SA:

    Paola Bonvicini
    Head of Communication & Press Office
    Tel: +41-91-985-21-21
    info-hhc@helsinn.com

Contact person at Helsinn Healthcare SA: Paola Bonvicini, Head of Communication & Press Office, Tel: +41-91-985-21-21, info-hhc at helsinn.com