Artes Medical Founder & CEO, Dr. Stefan Lemperle, Named Finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year(R) 2005 Awards; Award Recognizes Finalists for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Innovation.

SAN DIEGO -- Artes Medical, Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical and medical device company, today announced that Founder, President and CEO Dr. Stefan Lemperle, was named a finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2005 Awards in San Diego by professional services firm Ernst & Young LLP. Dr. Lemperle was selected from nearly 100 nominations by a panel of independent judges consisting of area leaders from business, academic and civic organizations.

"As a first-time participant, I am extremely honored to be named as a finalist, particularly considering that Artes Medical is still a pre-revenue company with pending FDA approval," said Dr. Lemperle. "We thrive on innovation and energy as we prepare to market a product that we believe may change cosmetic surgery," said Dr. Lemperle.

Ernst & Young established the Entrepreneur Of The Year Awards 17 years ago as the first global award program of its kind to celebrate entrepreneurs who are building and leading successful, growing and dynamic businesses. It is a series of regional, national and global awards in more than 150 cities and 35 countries designed to recognize the remarkable men and women who provide jobs, grow communities, strengthen economies and improve the world.

Artes Medical recently began qualification runs of its flagship product, ArteFill, at their San Diego based cGMP manufacturing facility. ArteFill is a unique combination of homogeneous precision-filtered synthetic microspheres suspended in a solution of ultra-purified collagen and lidocaine to alleviate discomfort during injection. When ArteFill receives final FDA approval, it will be the first approved permanent injectable implant for the correction of naso-labial folds, stimulating the production of the patient's own collagen to provide a lasting effect.

About Artes Medical, Inc.

Artes Medical helps physicians in the facial aesthetics market significantly improve patient outcomes through Aesthetic Tissue Engineering(TM) and partners with physicians to build their practices.

The company's lead product is ArteFill(TM). ArteFill is a unique combination of synthetic microspheres (20%) evenly suspended in bovine collagen(TM) (80%). After ArteFill is injected, the microscopic spheres stimulate the body's own natural collagen production to replace the purified collagen. The autologous collagen builds volume and encapsulates each permanent microscopic sphere to achieve enduring wrinkle correction. ArteFill's pre-market approval application (PMA) received an approvable letter from the FDA in January 2004. Once ArteFill receives final approval, it will be the only FDA-approved permanent injectable implant for the treatment of smile lines or naso-labial folds on the market. Over the last decade, Artecoll, ArteFill's predecessor, has been used in over 250,000 patients outside the United States.

For more information about the company and its products, visit the company's website www.artesmedical.com. Artes Medical, Artecoll and ArteFill, are trademarks of Artes Medical, Inc.