Release issued 13th July 2005

At the 6th annual European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) congress, held in Vienna, with an estimated attendance of over 9'000 worldwide delegates, Helsinn was actively present as sponsor of an exhibition stand and a satellite symposium structured to be an interactive experts' debate on the role of NSAIDs in the complex inflammatory pathways on its products nimesulide and oxaprozin. The satellite symposium, "Experts' debate on: Managing inflammation and pain in the rheumatology patient: identifying the issues, responding to the challenges ", which Helsinn sponsored and organised on Wednesday 8th June, saw the participation of about 200 specialists from various countries. This interactive event was skillfully chaired by Prof. Hans G. Kress, Dept. of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care B with Pain Center, Medical University/AKH Vienna, Austria who introduced the speakers and actively drove discussion through the various sessions.

After an expert and competent introductory lecture by Prof. H. O. Handwerker, University of Erlangen, Germany, who highlighted the importance of preventing peripheral and central prostanoids production to reduce inflammatory pain and hyperalgesia at peripheral and central level, Prof. Bjarnason, Guy's, King's & St Thomas' School of Medicine, London, UK, provided an overview on the latest thinking on the role of COX- 1 and COX-2. In particular Prof. Bjarnason, underlined how the GI safety profile remains the key issue for NSAIDs and reminded the uncertainty behind the so-called COX dogma according to which COX-1 inhibition accounted for GI side effects and COX-2 inhibition accounted for the therapeutic effects. In this context, nimesulide, with its preferential inhibitory action on COX-2 and lack of physicochemical properties that cause the topical effect, was confirmed to have a vastly improved gastric and small bowel side effect profile in respect to other conventional NSAIDs.

Prof. F. Dallegri, University of Genova Medical School, Genova, Italy, opened its speech with the interesting challenge: 'Are there any differences among NSAIDs?', providing evidences on how different pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamic characteristics may play a key role in the way of action of NSAIDs.

In particular Prof. Dallegri focused on the mechanisms beyond COXs inhibition calling the attention on the intrinsic and unique characteristics of both nimesulide and oxaprozin, with particular reference to the fast onset of action and favourable inhibitory activity of various mediators of inflammation and cartilage degradation of nimesulide, and the distinctive mechanism of action of oxaprozin which is able to reduce the production of pro-inflammatory chemotactic agents and to induce the apoptosis of monocyte- macrophages, thus favouring the resolution and termination of inflammatory responses.

Finally Prof. Huskisson, Consultant in Rheumatology, London, UK provided a very interesting overview of different clinical case scenarios in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA), showing how important is to tailor made the treatment to the needs of patients and after careful evaluation of their clinical profile. In particular he underlined the efficacy of oxaprozin in the management of RA with particular reference to its pharmacokinetics and clinical characteristics. He also debated the rationale for the use of NSAIDs compared to paracetamol in the treatment of OA and provided strong evidence for the use of nimesulide in the treatment of this disease. Each talk was animated by a lively debate between the audience and the speakers and a high value involvement and discussion amongst the members of the invited faculty, skillfully mastered by Prof. Kress, who headed off with a quite interesting challenge: 'Advance means progress to something better and not progress to something new!'

The Nimesulide & Oxaprozin booth shared between Helsinn Healthcare, the world-wide licensor, and CSC, Helsinn's marketing partner in Central and Eastern Europe, gave doctors attending the EULAR congress the opportunity to access new information on the two products and to meet in a dedicated area, fronted by a water cascade display that contributed to the strong recognition of the booth among the participants.

Visitors and guests also had the opportunity to challenge their knowledge on nimesulide and oxaprozin by participating in a dedicated interactive quiz. More than 250 people took part in the game and to our great satisfaction, many players demonstrated a solid knowledge on the products. The best five each day were awarded a copy of the DVD- ROM "Locomotor Apparatus - Anatomy and Radiology", a brand new tool acquired by Helsinn for distribution at Eular from Biomedia SA, a Swiss company specialized in the development and realization of multimedia educational instruments in the field of natural sciences. This high-quality DVD-ROM considers the locomotor apparatus (bones, joints and muscles) from an anatomical and radiological point of view. In total, it contains more than 1,800 illustrated anatomical terms and more than 900 radiological images, some animated and commentated.

The positive results reached with the symposium and exhibition booth at EULAR 2005 contributed to make this event an overall success for Helsinn, its products and its partners.

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(13th June 2005) EXELIXIS AND HELSINN SIGN AGREEMENT FOR XL119 (Becatecarin)

(1st June 2005) Helsinn Healthcare Licenses a Supportive Care Product from Roche

(30th May 2005) HELSINN'S ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 CERTIFICATION