Tour Sponsorship Reflects Company’s Commitment to Women’s Health
WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., & LAKELAND, Fla., January 17, 2006 — Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE: BRL) and the FUTURES Golf Tour today jointly announced that Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Barr’s proprietary products subsidiary, signed a three-year national title sponsorship agreement with the FUTURES Tour. As of today, the Tour will be renamed The Duramed FUTURES Tour.
Duramed Pharmaceuticals, an innovator in women’s healthcare pharmaceutical products, focuses its product development and marketing activities on products for women. The FUTURES Golf Tour is the official developmental tour of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) and serves as an opportunity for more than 300 of the world’s best young women professional golfers from 27 countries to prove their game and earn their way on to the LPGA Tour, the leading women’s professional golf tour in the world.
"We are proud to be the title sponsor of the Duramed FUTURES Tour," said Bruce L. Downey, Barr’s chairman and CEO. "The Duramed FUTURES Tour celebrates the talents and dreams of tomorrow’s female golf stars. Duramed is committed to providing women with pharmaceutical products that offer them reproductive and hormonal options that complement their active lifestyles. This partnership brings together two powerful forces committed to women, and will enable us to highlight that commitment, as well as to reinforce our message of the importance of female healthcare."
"Duramed is an ideal partner for the FUTURES Tour because of the company’s history of commitment to women and women’s health," said Zayra F. Calderon, president and CEO of the Duramed FUTURES Tour. "This partnership will greatly impact the landscape for women’s golf by providing more opportunity for growth of the sport. I am delighted with Duramed’s pledge to support local tournament markets and they will be a valuable ally in helping raise funds for our charities."
Calderon continued, "Our agreement with Duramed comes on the heels of one of the most successful seasons in the Tour’s 25-year history. Duramed will enhance our brand awareness and increase recognition as the ‘world’s premier women’s developmental tour.’ It solidifies our value proposition to showcase the most talented, exciting, young, dynamic golfers in the world and provide them direct access to play on the LPGA Tour."
Under this three-year sponsorship, Duramed will become the national title sponsor of the FUTURES Tour, will establish a player program to recognize those players who receive exempt status on the LPGA each year and will have the naming rights to the Player of the Year award. Duramed will also have access to 18 different tournament markets throughout the United States, as well as significant presence at each tournament venue. New marks and logo representing the partnership is being unveiled today.
About the Duramed FUTURES Tour
Celebrating 26 competitive seasons in 2006, the Duramed FUTURES Tour has remained committed to developing the skills and dreams of women golfers, establishing role models for youth and creating LPGA stars of tomorrow. With more than 250 alumnae as current members of the LPGA Tour, former FUTURES Tour players have won a total of 295 LPGA titles, including 31 major championships through 2005.
Designated as "the official developmental tour of the LPGA," the Duramed FUTURES Tour has become the largest international developmental tour and the second largest women’s golf tour in the world. At season’s end each year, the top five players on the Tour’s Money List earn automatic LPGA Tour exemptions for the following year. Throughout its first quarter century, membership has increased from approximately 150 North American players to more than 300 players from 27 different nations. The Tour now conducts 18 tournaments in 13 states and has raised almost $4 million for charitable organizations since 1989.
More information about the Duramed FUTURES Tour is available on the organization’s web site www.futurestour.com . Logo Files available by contacting Tracy L. Kerdyk, Duramed FUTURES Tour, 305-794-2538 or e-mail at tracy@futurestour.com .
About Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a holding company, whose principal subsidiaries, Barr Laboratories, Inc. and Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., develop, manufacture and market generic and proprietary pharmaceuticals. Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the proprietary products unit of the Company, currently markets 17 pharmaceutical products, and in 2004 created a new category in oral contraceptive options when it introduced the SEASONALE® extended-cycle oral contraceptive. Additional products in the Company’s portfolio provide women with other contraceptive options, and also address such issues as hormonal therapy and the need for women to more effectively manage cholesterol levels.
[EDITOR’S ADVISORY: Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc. news releases are available free of charge through PR Newswire’s News On-Call site at http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/089750.html. Barr news releases and corporate information are also available on Barr’s website (www.barrlabs.com
Contact:
Barr Pharmaceuticals
Carol A. Cox
201-930-3720
E-mail: ccox@barrlabs.com
FUTURES Golf Tour
Tracy L. Kerdyk
305-794-2538
E-mail: tracy@futurestour.com
Lisa D. Mickey
863-709-9100, Ext. 2
E-mail: lisa@futurestour.com
