CVGR Covalent

WAYNE, Pa., Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Covalent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CVGR), a leader in the design, development, and management of complex clinical trials and patient registries for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies today announced that it has signed multiple new contracts with an aggregate value of approximately $1.0 million. These contracts are for consulting services as well as for changes-of-scope for existing business. Services to be provided include protocol design and strategic consulting, clinical operations, and medical writing. The therapeutic areas covered are cardiovascular, nephrology, vaccines, and ophthalmology. Revenue for these contracts will be recognized on a proportional performance basis as services are performed and will extend over approximately 12 months depending on the specific project. Kenneth M. Borow, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The current contracts help to supplement our backlog and continue our strong relationships with multiple clients. We are very encouraged by the trends that we are seeing in our new business endeavors across diverse therapeutic areas and multiple phases of clinical investigation including patient disease registries. We remain committed to expanding the geographic footprint for the services that we offer. We anticipate significant top-line revenue growth during 2006 compared to 2005 as well as expansion of our business model to include additional sources of revenue." About Covalent Group, Inc. Covalent Group, Inc. is a clinical research organization that is a leader in the design and management of complex clinical trials and Patient Disease Registries for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries. The Company's mission is to provide its clients with high quality, full-service support for their biopharmaceutical development programs. Covalent offers therapeutic expertise, experienced team management and advanced technologies. The Company has drug and biologics development as well as clinical trial experience across a wide variety of therapeutic areas such as cardiovascular, endocrinology/metabolism, diabetes, vaccines, infectious diseases, gene therapy, immunology, neurology, oncology, gastroenterology, dermatology, hepatology, women's health and respiratory medicine. Covalent believes that its leadership in the design of complex clinical trials, its therapeutic expertise and commitment to excellence, and its application of innovative technologies, offer its clients a means to more quickly and cost effectively move products through the clinical development process. With its wholly-owned international subsidiary, Covalent Group, Ltd., as well as its Strategic Partners operating in various regions around the world, Covalent is able to meet the global drug development needs of its clients. For more information, please visit http://www.covalentgroup.com/. This press release contains forward-looking statements identified by words such as "estimate," "project," "expect," "intend," "believe," "anticipate" and similar expressions. Actual results might differ materially from those projected in, expressed in or implied by the forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties that could affect the Company's future operating results and financial condition include, without limitation: (i) our success in attracting new business and retaining existing clients and projects; (ii) the size, duration, and timing of clinical trials we are currently managing may change unexpectedly ; (iii) the termination, delay or cancellation of clinical trials we are currently managing could cause revenues to decline unexpectedly; (iv) the timing difference between our receipt of contract milestone or scheduled payments and our incurring costs to manage these trials; (v) outsourcing trends in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries; (vi) the ability to maintain profit margins in a competitive marketplace; (vii) our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; (viii) the sensitivity of our business to general economic conditions; (ix) other economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors affecting our operations, markets, products, services and prices; (x) announced awards received from existing and potential customers are not definitive until fully negotiated contracts are executed by the parties; and (xi) our backlog may not be indicative of future revenues and may not generate the revenues expected. You should not place any undue reliance on these forward looking statements which speak only as of the date of this press release. Additional information concerning factors that might affect our business or stock price which could cause actual results to materially differ from those in forward-looking statements is contained in Covalent Group's SEC filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 and other periodic reports under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, copies of which are available upon request from Covalent Group's investor relations department. Investor Relations Contact for Covalent Lawrence Hoffman, CPA, Esq. CFO, Covalent Group, Inc. (610) 975-9533 DATASOURCE: Covalent Group, Inc. CONTACT: investors, Lawrence Hoffman, CPA, Esq., CFO of Covalent Group, Inc., +1-610-975-9533 Web site: http://www.covalentgroup.com/

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