EX-LABORATORY MANAGER SENTENCED IN DRUG SCHEME

The former manager of a state-of-the-art SmithKline Beecham PLC drug
production lab in Conshohocken was sentenced yesterday to five years in
prison for permitting a research chemist to use the lab to secretly make
more than 335 pounds of almost-pure methamphetamine that was sold for
$12,000 a pound.

James A. Neal, 42, of King of Prussia, was also fined $750 by U.S. District
Judge Lowell A. Reed Jr.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul A. Sarmousakis said the no-parole prison term
was about half what Neal could have received had he not pleaded guilty and
testified against another man involved in the scheme.

Last month, the chemist who manufactured the drugs, Michael F. Smith, 48,
of Springfield in Delaware County, was sentenced to 7 years in prison and
fined $5,000.

A former SmithKline engineer who worked with Smith, Stephen H. Kohlbrenner,
32, of Newtown Square, is already serving a six-year prison term resulting
from his guilty plea to drug charges.

Smith's brother, Edward Smith, of Ridley Park, admitted selling the illegal
stimulant made by his brother. He is to be sentenced Tuesday in federal court.