Paul M. Michaels, 51, was president of Nobelpharma USA Corp. a wholly owned subsidiary of Nobelpharma Japan. Nobelpharma Japan is a specialty pharmaceutical company, focused solely on Orphan drug development that was formed with the assistance of Mr. Michaels to develop orphan drugs for the Asian market. Initial capital commitments are in excess of $30 million. Nobelpharma’s joint venture partner is Inabata & Co., Ltd, which is a trading company with over $4 billion in annual sales. Prior to being elected as president of Nobelpharma USA, from 2000 until June 2003, Mr. Michaels served as CFO of Inabata America Corp the wholly owned US based subsidiary of Inabata & Co., Ltd. Mr. Michaels joined Inabata America Corp in 1993 and has advised them on numerous licensing transactions, corporate divestitures as well as bridge loans and corporate and technology acquisitions. Mr. Michaels began his career on Wall Street in 1986 and prior to working at Inabata held a series of corporate finance and/or managerial positions in several New York retail, based investment banking firms.