President of the Polish Government Mr Leszek Miller

In September of last year, the Presidents of the Republic of Poland and Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski and Mr. Milan Kučan, laid the foundation stone for the beginning of construction of a Lek Manufacturing and Logistics Centre (PLC) in Strykow near Lodz. The construction work is now practically completed, only the finishing works are still being performed on this largest Slovene investment abroad (EUR 70 million), and one of the most state-of-the-art facilities of this type in Europe. Lek’s move to the new centre is planned to take place at the end of this year, and manufacturing will begin in the first half of 2004. In the same period, Lek and Sandoz will merge their activities in Poland.

The President of the Polish Government, Mr Leszek Miller, was informed of the plans and activities of the company LEK S.A. in the Polish market, and expressed his support for this investment.

Lek’s investment in Strykow, worth EUR 70 million, is a project for the 21st century and is based on the use of the latest technologies. On an area of about 25,000 m2, there will among others be facilities for the manufacture of solid pharmaceutical forms, with a target capacity of one billion tablets and capsules a year, plus a low- and high-shelf storage with a capacity of 8200 pallet sites, and an administrative building with offices and laboratories for microbiological and chemical quality control.

A staff of almost 300 will be employed at the plant. The completion of works and turn-key delivery of the facility is planned for the first half of 2004.

Simultaneously with Lek’s involvement in this investment project, integration activities were also initiated in Poland for the strategic linking of Lek with the leading international generic trust Sandoz, a global corporation. The clearly set goals and opinions of the Sandoz Group management are predicting a highly complementary scenario for the joint activities of the two, to their mutual benefit. Sandoz Group and Lek will not be considered strong players only in the European pharmaceuticals market; they will strive to achieve a leading position in the global generic market, primarily in countries with the highest expected growth potential. Lek remains the leading Slovene company with a strong presence in the markets of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. In its traditional markets as well, Lek will continue to invest in the development of health care and the medical science, striving to accomplish the most important part of its mission statement, i.e. to maintain responsible and cooperative relationships with people and the environment.

On Monday, 1 September 2003, the change of the company name and company headquarters of Lodz-based Argon SA was entered into the Court Register. The new name is: Lek SA with its headquarters in Strykow.