Patheon Acknowledges Proposed Bid By JLL to Acquire All Outstanding Shares

Patheon Inc. ("Patheon" or the "Company") (TSX:PTI), a global provider of drug development and manufacturing services to the international pharmaceutical industry, received a letter from JLL Patheon Holdings, LLC ("JLL") after the close of business on December 5, 2008 expressing its intention to make an unsolicited offer to acquire any or all the outstanding restricted voting shares of Patheon that it does not already own at a price of USD $2.00 per share in cash which is equivalent to C$2.54 per share based on the exchange rate on December 5, 2008. JLL announced its proposed offer in a press release issued earlier today. JLL holds convertible preferred shares of the Company, which when converted and taken together with its holdings of restricted voting shares, would represent approximately 29% of the restricted voting shares of the Company.

Patheon's Board of Directors will appoint a special committee of independent directors, none of whom is associated with JLL or with anyone supporting JLL to review and evaluate the unsolicited bid from JLL, and make recommendations to the Board of Directors and shareholders. Patheon's Board of Directors will advise shareholders of its recommendation with respect to this bid in due course and until such time shareholders are advised to take no action with respect to the bid. The company remains very confident in its business plan and continues to run its business as usual.

Patheon would like to remind its shareholders that its fourth quarter and full year 2008 earnings announcement is scheduled for Friday, December 12th at 10AM EST. Details for the call may be found on our website.

ABOUT PATHEON

Patheon Inc. (TSX:PTI; www.patheon.com) is a leading global provider of contract development and manufacturing services to the global pharmaceutical industry. Patheon prides itself in providing the highest quality products and services to more than 300 of the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Patheon's services range from preclinical development through commercial manufacturing of a full array of dosage forms including parenteral, solid, semi-solid and liquid forms. Patheon uses many innovative technologies including single-use disposables, Liquid-Filled Hard Capsules and a variety of modified release technologies. Patheon's comprehensive range of fully integrated Pharmaceutical Development Services includes pre-formulation, formulation, analytical development, clinical manufacturing, scale-up and commercialization. Patheon can take customers direct to clinic with global clinical packaging and distribution services and Patheon's Quick to Clinic(TM) programs can accelerate early phase development project to clinical trials while minimizing the consumption of valuable API.

Patheon's integrated development and manufacturing network of 11 facilities, and 6 development centers across North America and Europe, strives to ensure that customer products can be launched with confidence anywhere in the world.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements which reflect management's expectations regarding the Company's future growth of operations, performance (both operational and financial) and business prospects and opportunities. These statements are made in the context of the risks and uncertainties that are outlined in the Company's public documents, which can be accessed on our website at www.patheon.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

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SOURCE: Patheon Inc.

Mr. Wes Wheeler, President & Chief Executive Officer, Tel: (905) 812-2112, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Ms. Jean Treadwell, Investor Relations, Tel: (905) 816-8344, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.