November 23, 2006, Halifax, Nova Scotia – Origin BioMed Inc., a manufacturer of
over-the-counter topical drug products, recently negotiated deals for its lead product
Neuragen with Kerr Drug, a 100 store drug chain based in Raleigh, North Carolina and
USA Drugs with over 150 stores based in the Arkansas region.
 
“The past year has been very exciting for us and the future appears very bright,” states
Robert Cervelli, President of Origin BioMed. 
 
With ever growing support from Canadian Chain Drug Store giants such as Shoppers
Drug Mart, London Drugs, Pharmasave, Katz Group Canada, and wholesaler McKesson
Canada, Origin BioMed now has distribution within retail pharmacies from coast to
coast.  Statistics provided by the Canadian Association of Chain Drug Stores, the
national voice of community chain pharmacy in Canada, indicates there are over 5,424
pharmacies across the country. (http://www.cacds.com/) 
 
According to Wayne Miller, Director of Sales and Marketing of Origin BioMed, “Our initial
entry into Dell Pharmacy, a 15 store drug store chain located in Hamilton Ontario, was
and continues to be very successful.  After launching a pilot campaign in November
2005, which included product disbursement through all stores, staff training, and
advertisements in newspapers,  Dell sold over 427 units of our lead product Neuragen in
3 ½ months.”   Dragana Skokovic-Sunjic, Pharmacy Manager for Dell estimates that
“over 50% of first time users have become regular buyers.”
 
Miller elaborates on the Canadian expansion, “At the same time of our Dell Pharmacy
campaign, four of our products were successfully listed at London Drugs.  With the
stakes even higher, our media campaign in early 2006 generated above average volume
turn-over within the chain”.  London Drugs, a 64 store chain headquartered in
Vancouver, BC is one of North America’s billion dollar generating pharmacy operations.
 
Cervelli states “Equipped with confidence and performance data from these initial pilot
campaigns, Wayne and I met with Shoppers Drug Mart and successfully negotiated a
listing for Neuragen in March 2006.  Shoppers Drug Mart agreed to list Neuragen and
launch it within the chain in three stages. The first stage started when Shoppers Drug
Mart placed their first purchase order in August 2006 and involved shelving Neuragen in
its 100+ stores in Atlantic Canada. After ensuring the product was on Shoppers’ shelves,
we started our media campaign in early October to drive consumers into the stores. 
Initial sales data provided by Shoppers Drug Mart is very positive and plans to launch
the product across the country into all 1000+ stores are in the works for 2007.”
 
Within one month of getting listed at Shoppers Drug Mart, Origin BioMed successfully
negotiated a listing for Neuragen with the Katz Group of Companies. Katz is one of
North America's leading drug store operators with over 1,800 drug stores in Canada and
the United States.  Miller says “Neuragen has been shelved at Katz Group’s Rexall and
PharmaPlus stores across Canada.” 
 
The company has also penetrated into chains such as Pharmasave, a 320+ store chain
headquartered in British Columbia, Super Drug Mart, a 19 store chain based in Calgary,
Lawtons Drug, a 60 store chain based in Nova Scotia, and PharmaChoice, a 71 store
chain headquartered in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
 
“In an effort to ensure timely and efficient distribution, we negotiated a listing with two of
Canada’s leading wholesale companies.  McKesson Canada, based out of Montreal and
Kohl & Frisch of Toronto have made multiple purchase orders and are warehousing
Neuragen at over 18 locations across the country”, says Miller.  
 
Miller states “From a 206 store account base, Origin has steadily increased its
distribution across Canada and is now poised to have products in over 1700 stores by
the end 2007.  Ultimately, this will allow us to offer Neuragen to a greater number of
people in need of neuropathic pain relief.”