if only he like my other investment XKEM's CEO Xechem CEO Dr. Ramesh Pandey Wins the MarketWatch Readers' Choice 2006 CEO of the Year Award THURSDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2006 6:30 AM - BusinessWire XKEM 0.0203 +0.001 NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Dec 07, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- The Chairman and CEO of Xechem International, Inc. (XKEM) , Dr. Ramesh Pandey, was named Marketwatch Readers' Choice 2006 CEO of the year, just ahead of Steve Jobs of Apple Computer, with Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway a close third. Xechem International had a watershed year in 2006. In July, Xechem successfully launched NICOSAN(TM), its breakthrough drug for the prophylactic management of Sickle Cell Disease in Nigeria. Nigeria has the highest incidence of Sickle Cell Disease in the world, with approximately 4 million people affected. The drug was approved by Nigerian drug regulatory authority NAFDAC, on July 3rd, 2006, and was launched just a few days later at a ceremony in Abuja, Nigeria presided over by His Excellency, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the President of Nigeria. NICOSAN(TM) is currently being sold in Nigeria. Xechem is conducting the necessary studies for the submission of an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA to start Clinical Trials in the USA and Europe in 2007. The year also witnessed the ground-breaking for what will be Xechem's state-of-the-art FDA/cGMP-compliant factory in Abuja for the full commercial scale production of NICOSAN(TM). The facility is scheduled to be operational in 2007.