Bedford Laboratories to Begin Shipping Octreotide Acetate Injection First Generic On Market

BEDFORD, OH – April 4, 2005 – Bedford Laboratories™, a division of Ben Venue Laboratories Inc., announced that it began shipping Octreotide Acetate Injection on April 4, 2005. The product is equivalent to SC Sandostatin® Injection by Novartis.

“In our continuing effort to offer the most comprehensive line of oncology and oncology adjunct products in the multisource industry, Bedford Laboratories is once again very pleased to be the first generic alternative to market with this very important product,” said David Gaugh, General Manager of Bedford Laboratories.

Bedford Laboratories will provide Octreotide Acetate Injection in five presentations: 50 mcg/1mL, 100 mcg/1mL, 500 mcg/1mL, 200mcg/mL 5mL and 1mg/mL 5mL octreotide (as acetate).

Prescribing information is available upon request from Bedford Laboratories’ professional services department, (800) 521-5169, or from the company’s web site, www.bedfordlabs.com.

Bedford Laboratories supplies the US and International markets with multisource and specialty injectable products. Headquartered in Bedford, Ohio, Bedford Laboratories is a division of Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc., a subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation based in Ridgefield, CT, and a member of the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies.

The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world’s 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 152 affiliates in 45 countries and more than 34,000 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.

In 2003, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of US $8.37 billion (7.4 billion euro) while spending more than one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment, Prescription Medicines, on research and development.

For more information please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.com.