York Pharma Plc Announces The Acquisition Of Leading Dermatological & Wound Care Brands

York Pharma Plc (AIM: YRK) announces the acquisition of the worldwide commercial rights to two leading skin care and wound healing products. At the same time the company has raised $51.2 million to finance the product acquisition and support future operations.

"The acquisition will enable the York management team to leverage York’s existing sales and marketing infrastructure and will enable us to become self financing during the first full year of operations post closing,” says Terry Sadler, Chief Executive of skin care specialists, York Pharma.

The new skin care products are Flammazine® and Flammacerium®. They have been acquired from the European headquartered multi-national drug company Solvay Pharmaceuticals BV.

New York headquartered Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, a subsidiary of Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: RODM) served as the lead placement agent for the financing as well as the advisor to York Pharma for the acquisition.

"The capital and credit markets may be in turmoil but investors are still actively seeking opportunities to participate in the right deals,” says Alex Charlton, of Rodman & Renshaw, a leading investment banking firm to the life science sector. Mr. Sadler elaborates, "By definition the life sciences industry is driven by innovation and science, indeed York has an award winning pipeline of future products, but there is also room for common sense acquisitions that provide revenues today. We are focusing on acquisitions that pass a relatively simple test of business common sense; acquisitions that can be easily described and understood in a few sentences, are a good fit with our existing business, are favorably valued and most importantly appear well positioned to help us make money for our shareholders."

Mr. Sadler explained, "York are specialists in dermatology products – a niche market in which there is no clear market leader. There are a number of innovative revenue producing and favorably valued products available for acquisition. This makes the sector attractive for roll-up and consolidation. With the acquisition of these two marketed products, combined with our existing commercial infrastructure, current revenues and award winning pipeline, York is positioned to implement a well conceived series of commercial transactions going forward.” Mr. Sadler added, "We have been impressed by Rodman & Renshaw’s advisory and placement capabilities, they were instrumental in the successful completion of this transaction. We hope to build upon our close working relationship with Rodman as we implement our corporate strategy."

The financing of the acquisition included an institutional placing to existing York Shareholders of $7.18 million and a $44.02 million loan in senior secured debt and convertible notes.

"The deal was particularly attractive to investors because both products are already approved for sale in 21 countries,” says Mr. Sadler. York Pharma estimates the worldwide market for topical anti-infective products to be $445 million. Mr. Sadler explained, "Currently sales of Flammazine® and Flammacerium® are concentrated in France, Germany, Belgium and Spain. Now we intend to access the lucrative North American market, particularly with Flammacerium®, a novel product which has an orphan drug designation.”

Notes for editors:

About the Acquisition: Under the terms of the agreements with Solvay, York Pharma has acquired Flammazine® and Flammacerium®, both leading brands for the prevention and treatment of infections in burn wounds and topical wound infections. The transaction consists of two agreements; the first agreement entails the acquisition by York Pharma of all rights, permits, continuing sales and intellectual property to both brands on a worldwide basis; the second, separate agreement, entails the five year supply to York Pharma of finished products by Solvay.

Both products contain silver sulfadiazine and are currently approved in 21 countries under the trade names Flammazine®, Bruluzine®, Silver sulfadiazine® and Zilversulfadiazine® for the prevention and treatment of infections in burn wounds and topical wound infections. Silver sulfadiazine is also available in a combination with cerium nitrate under the major trade name of Flammacerium®. The global market for topical anti-infective products is estimated to be valued at $445 million.

Currently, sales of Flammazine® and Flammacerium® are concentrated in the major European markets of France, Germany, Belgium and Spain. The acquisition of the two products by York Pharma will provide an opportunity to grow their sales in these key territories and to extend the brands' reach into new geographic markets through the Company's expanding specialist dermatology sales and marketing infrastructure. The North American market is a key strategic area for York Pharma's future expansion, where the Company plans to exploit the Orphan Drug designation for Flammacerium®.

About York Pharma Plc: YORK PHARMA Plc is a pharmaceutical Company, established in 2003, which develops, markets and supplies branded dermatological products to pharmaceutical wholesalers, hospitals and general practitioners within the field of dermatology.

The Company currently has at its disposal more than 20 patent families (with over 100 individual patents/patent applications) and intellectual property in relation to its portfolio of novel dermatology products and technology platforms in the key therapeutic areas of fungal infection, eczema/dermatitis, psoriasis, vitiligo and acne that make up more than 87% of the global $10bn dermatology market. For more information, visit www.yorkpharma.com.

About Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, Inc.: Rodman & Renshaw Capital Group, Inc. is a holding company with a number of direct and indirect subsidiaries, including Rodman & Renshaw, LLC, Rodman Principal Investments, LLC and Miller Mathis & Co., LLC.

Rodman & Renshaw, LLC is a full service investment bank dedicated to providing investment banking services to companies that have significant recurring capital needs due to their growth and development strategies, along with research and sales and trading services to investor clients that focus on such companies. Rodman is a leading investment banking firm with particular emphasis on "essential” industries with significant capital needs, including health care (especially life science), energy (especially upstream oil and gas), ferrous and non-ferrous metals, shipping, and natural resources, as well as a leader in the PIPE (private investment in public equity) and RD (registered direct placements) transaction markets. For more information, visit www.rodm.com. MEMBER FINRA, SIPC.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and financial performance. In some cases, you can identify these statements by words such as "may,” "might,” "will,” "should,” "except,” "plan,” "intend,” "anticipate,” "believe,” "estimate,” "predict,” "potential,” or "continue,” the negative of these terms and other comparable terminology. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties and are based on numerous assumptions involving judgments with respect to future economic, competitive and market conditions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the Company’s control. There are or may be important factors that could cause our actual results to materially differ from our historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements.

These factors include, but are not limited to, those discussed under the section entitled "Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed March 14, 2008, which is available at the Securities and Exchange Commission website at www.sec.gov. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon management's reasonable belief as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.