Xcel Pharmaceuticals Inc has expanded its business strategy to include partnering with pharmaceutical development companies to help bring late-stage development product candidates to market.Product candidates that leverage the Company's existing commercial organization and infrastructure are particularly attractive to Xcel.The Company continues to pursue the acquisition of additional marketed products to enhance its current product portfolio comprised of two epilepsy products, Diastat (diazepam rectal gel) and Mysoline (primidone), and two migraine products, Migranal (dihydroergotamine mesylate) Nasal Spray and D.H.E. 45 (dihydroergotamine mesylate) Injection.Xcel promotes these products with its 82-person field sales organization that calls on neurologists in the U.S.

Xcel also announced the appointment of Wendy L. Martin as Vice President, Clinical and Product Development.Dr. Martin has over ten years of proven experience in clinical research and pharmaceutical product development at Glaxo Wellcome (Glaxo SmithKline) and Elan Pharmaceuticals bringing compounds in neurology and pain through clinical development to launch.Dr. Martin will play a key role in Xcel's efforts to partner with other companies to help bring late-stage development product candidates to market and will also be responsible for leading Xcel's efforts to develop product enhancements for its current product portfolio.

"By pursuing late-stage development product candidates that have demonstrated clinical safety and efficacy, we can build a product pipeline with significantly less financial and regulatory risk than earlier-stage development product candidates," stated Michael T. Borer, Xcel's President and Chief Executive Officer."Building a product pipeline, in conjunction with continuing to increase demand for our current products, will further enhance the long-term value we are creating for our stakeholders.We do not plan to develop late-stage development product candidates internally.Our strategy is to bring our commercial infrastructure and expertise together with other companies' development capabilities to successfully bring late-stage development product candidates to market.We are very pleased that Wendy has joined the Xcel team to contribute to this effort."