Solvay, Quintiles announce five-year renewal of drug development strategic alliance

Renewal reflects success of alliance, first formed in 2001, in accelerating Solvay pipeline

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM and RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – October 24, 2006 – Solvay Pharmaceuticals has renewed for another five years its clinical development strategic alliance with Quintiles, first signed in 2001, Solvay Pharmaceuticals and Quintiles Transnational Corp. announced today. The renewal reflects the alliance’s success in accelerating development of Solvay’s product portfolio and improving efficiency.

With Quintiles as its strategic development partner, Solvay has completed three Phase III clinical testing programs, moved two compounds from Phase II to Phase III earlier than expected, and produced conclusive Phase II data that resulted in the termination of two other programs, freeing resources for other development work.

“Using Quintiles’ global infrastructure and experts as a strategic asset, we’ve advanced projects at a much faster rate than we could have achieved alone, and with greater flexibility,” said Werner Cautreels, Chief Executive Officer of Solvay Pharmaceuticals. “Over the next five years we aim to achieve even higher levels of value in terms of efficiency, speed and cost-savings.”

“We’re also pleased to add Quintiles’ IIIb-IV capabilities to the alliance, which reflects both our confidence in Quintiles and the increasing importance of research to show the safety and value of newly marketed medicines.”

Quintiles Chairman and CEO Dennis Gillings, Ph.D., CBE, said: “This alliance shows the power of strategic partnering to create a more efficient and flexible drug development platform. Both Solvay and Quintiles are focused on a single goal – moving products efficiently through development and on to patients in need. This renewal demonstrates the progress we’ve made and our shared passion to achieve that goal.”

About Solvay
Solvay Pharmaceuticals is a research driven group of companies that constitute the global pharmaceutical business of the Solvay Group. The company seeks to fulfill carefully selected, unmet medical needs in the therapeutic areas of neuroscience, cardio-metabolic, influenza vaccines, gastroenterology, specialized markets and men’s and women’s health. Its 2005 sales were EUR 2.3 billion and it employs approximately 10,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit www.solvaypharmaceuticals.com

Solvay is an international chemical and pharmaceutical Group with headquarters in Brussels. It employs some 30,000 people in 50 countries. In 2005 its consolidated sales amounted to EUR 8.6 billion generated by its three activity sectors: Chemicals, Plastics and Pharmaceuticals. SOLVAY (Euronext : SOLB.BE - Bloomberg: SOLB.BB - Reuters: SOLBt.BR) is listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Brussels. Details are available at www.solvay.com.

About Quintiles
Quintiles Transnational Corp. is powering the next generation of healthcare by providing a broad range of professional services in drug development, information, financial partnering and commercialization for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. With 16,000 employees and offices in more than 50 countries, it is focused on providing customer-centric solutions that are the gold standard of the industry. For more information, please visit the company’s Web site at www.quintiles.com.

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Martial Tardy

Corporate Press Officer

Solvay

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