Accipiter Life Sciences Announces Nomination of Three Independent Director Candidates for Election to the Penwest Board at the 2008 Annu...( NEW YORK Feb. 15 /- Accipiter Lif...),Health

NEW YORK, Feb. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Accipiter Life Sciences Fund, LP ("Accipiter Life Sciences"), announced today that it has nominated Gabe Hoffman, David Lohman and Eugene I. Davis for election to the Board of Directors of Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co. (the "Company") (Nasdaq: PPCO) at the Company's 2008 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Company has not announced the date of the annual meeting. Accipiter Life Sciences, which, together with its affiliates, beneficially owns 2,168,213 shares, or approximately 9.3% of the outstanding shares, of common stock of the Company, submitted written notice of the nominations to the Company's Corporate Secretary in a letter dated February 15, 2008.

CERTAIN INFORMATION CONCERNING PARTICIPANTS

Accipiter Life Sciences Fund, LP ("Accipiter Life Sciences"), together with the other Participants (as defined below), intend to make a preliminary filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") of a proxy statement and accompanying proxy card to be used to solicit votes for the election of a slate of director nominees at the 2008 annual meeting of shareholders of Penwest Pharmaceuticals Co., a Washington corporation (the "Company").

ACCIPITER LIFE SCIENCES ADVISES ALL SHAREHOLDERS OF THE COMPANY TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT IS AVAILABLE BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. SUCH PROXY STATEMENT WILL BE AVAILABLE AT NO CHARGE ON THE SEC'S WEB SITE AT HTTP://WWW.SEC.GOV. IN ADDITION, THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE SOLICITATION WILL PROVIDE COPIES OF THE PROXY STATEMENT WITHOUT CHARGE UPON REQUEST. REQUESTS FOR COPIES SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO THE PARTICIPANTS' PROXY SOLICITOR.

The participants in the proxy solicitation are a
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