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PRWT Acquires Chemical Manufacturing Facility from Merck & Co., Inc.

Tuesday, January 1, 2008 General News
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PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 1 PRWT Services, Inc., a minority-ownedbusiness enterprise, today announced that it has, through its wholly-ownedsubsidiary, Cherokee Pharmaceuticals LLC, acquired the Cherokee chemicalmanufacturing plant in Riverside, PA, from Merck & Co., Inc. of WhitehouseStation, NJ. Cherokee has also entered into a five-year supply agreement withMerck for an estimated value of $100-200 million annually.
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Willie F. Johnson, Chairman & CEO of PRWT, said: "The acquisition of theCherokee plant is consistent with PRWT's vision of growing the company byexpanding into new markets, services, and lines of business. By establishing apresence in the Life Sciences market, PRWT can now participate in an industrywith tremendous growth potential and establish a strategic supplierrelationship with Merck, one of the premier pharmaceutical companies in theworld." Mr. Johnson also acknowledged PRWT's employees who have established aculture of excellence at PRWT that gave Merck the confidence to complete thishistoric deal.
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The Cherokee plant is a state-of-the-art API manufacturing facility ofproducts/antibiotics for humans and animals. All 400 employees working at theplant will be offered jobs and are expected to transfer their employment fromMerck to PRWT effective January 1, 2008. PRWT also intends to makeconsiderable capital investments in the Cherokee plant to support the growthof the business and increase the number of jobs available in the localcommunity.

Justin Noll, the Cherokee plant manager, stated, "We are genuinely excitedabout the sale of the plant and becoming part of PRWT. Not only will it begood for the employees, but also for the community at large. We are lookingforward to being a stand-alone company and a company which will have greatpotential for expansion."

The sale of the site is part of Merck's global restructuring of itsmanufacturing operations (announced November 2005) to create a globalmanufacturing network that is better aligned to Merck's current andanticipated future product demand.

"The sale of the Cherokee plant, along with the supplier relationshipMerck has established with Cherokee Pharmaceuticals, is another important stepin the realigning of our manufacturing operations," said Larry Naldi, SeniorVice President, Science & Technology, Merck Manufacturing Division. "Thecompletion of this sale also enables Merck to continue to have a presence inthe local community through its interactions with Cherokee."

About PRWT Services, Inc.

PRWT is a nationally recognized African-American owned businessheadquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Founded in 1988, PRWT provides businessprocess outsourcing (BPO) services to state and local governments across thecountry. PRWT is one of America's largest minority-owned businesses and hasbeen ranked in the top 100 by Black Enterprise magazine for the past sevenyears. In 2000, PRWT entered a new line of business by acquiring U.S.Facilities, Inc. (USF), a facilities management company headquartered inPhiladelphia, PA. Since being acquired by PRWT, USF has won several multi-million-dollar contracts in the federal and municipal markets. For moreinformation, visit http://www.prwt.com.

About Merck

Merck & Co., Inc. is a global research-driven pharmaceutical companydedicated to putting patients first. Established in 1891, Merck currentlydiscovers, develops, manufactures and markets vaccines and medicines toaddress unmet medical needs. The Company devotes extensive efforts to increaseaccess to medicines through far-reaching programs that not only donate Merckmedicines but help deliver them to the people who need them. Merck alsopublishes unbiased health information as a not-for-profit service. For moreinformation, visit http://www.merck.com.

SOURCE PRWT Services, Inc.
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