Bio-Technology General Corp. Announces Election of Two New Board Members.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 17, 2003

-- Jeremy Hayward-Surry, President of Pall Corporation --

-- Stephen O. Jaeger, Chairman, CEO and President of eBT

International, Inc. --

Bio-Technology General Corp. (NASDAQ:BTGC) (Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc., NASDAQ:SVNT, effective June 23, 2003) today announced the election, at its annual meeting of stockholders, of two new directors to the Company's Board of Directors: Jeremy Hayward-Surry and Stephen O. Jaeger.

Mr. Hayward-Surry, 60, is retiring as President and a director of Pall Corporation (NYSE:PLL), a leading international manufacturer of sophisticated clarifications and separations products for the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, and one of the top 500 industrial companies in the United States. Mr. Hayward-Surry started with Pall Europe Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pall Corporation, in 1974 and transferred to Pall Corporation in 1989 where he has held numerous key management positions.

Mr. Jaeger, 58, is Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, and President of eBT International, Inc., a company that has been a developer and marketer of enterprise-wide Web content management software solutions and associated services, including technical consulting, training and support. Prior to joining eBT in 1999, he held senior finance and management positions at The Clinical Communications Group, Applera Corporation, Houghton Mifflin Company, and The British Petroleum Company PLC.

"We are very pleased to welcome these two talented individuals to our Board," stated Sim Fass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "They each bring years of successful corporate experience to our organization. We believe their business, finance, and strategic management skills complement the abilities of our current directors, and we look forward to benefiting from their contributions."

Messrs. Hayward-Surry and Jaeger fill the Board seats vacated by Allan Rosenfield, who will be devoting more time to his academic activities and commitments, and Dan Tolkowsky, a founding Board member, who has retired after providing more than twenty years of invaluable guidance and counsel. Mr. Tolkowsky will assume the newly created position of Director Emeritus.

In addition to the election of the new board members, stockholders approved the re-election of all other members of the Board: Herbert J. Conrad, President (retired), Roche Pharmaceuticals Division, Hoffmann La-Roche, Ltd.; Sim Fass, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company; Carl E. Kaplan, Esq., Senior Partner, Fulbright and Jaworski LLP; David Tendler, Partner, Tendler Beretz LLC; Virgil Thompson, President and Chief Executive Officer, Angstrom Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Faye Wattleton, President, Center for the Advancement of Women; and Herbert Weissbach, Ph.D., Director, Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Florida Atlantic University.

About The Company

Bio-Technology General Corp. (Savient Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) is a specialty pharmaceutical company with expertise in developing, manufacturing, and marketing human health care products for niche and wider markets. Products marketed by the Company's sales force in the United States are Oxandrin(R) (oxandrolone, USP) and Delatestryl(R) (testosterone enanthate). The Company's subsidiary, Rosemont Pharmaceuticals, Limited, develops, manufactures, and markets oral liquid formulations of prescription products for the UK pharmaceutical market through its own sales force. The Company's Israeli subsidiary, Bio-Technology General (Israel), Ltd., manufactures and markets in Israel Bio-Tropin(TM) (recombinant human growth hormone), BioLon(TM) (sodium hyaluronate), Bio-Hep-B(R) (hepatitis B vaccine), and Arthrease(TM) (sodium hyaluronate for osteoarthritis). Products marketed by the Company's licensees are Mircette(R) (oral contraceptive), and BioLon(TM) in the United States, and Bio-Tropin(TM), BioLon(TM), Bio-Hep-B(R), Silkis(R) (vitamin D derivative), Arthrease(TM), and recombinant human insulin, in international markets. The Company's news releases and other information are available on the Company's website at www.btgc.com, and www.savientpharma.com, effective June 23, 2003

Arthrease is a trademark of DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.; Mircette is a registered trademark of Organon, Inc.; Silkis is a registered trademark of Galderma S.A.

Statements in this news release concerning the Company's business outlook or future economic performance, anticipated profitability, revenues, expenses or other financial items; and statements concerning assumptions made or expectations as to any future events, conditions, performance or other matters, are "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in such statements. Such risks, uncertainties and factors include, but are not limited to, changes and delays in product development plans and schedules, customer acceptance of new products, development, introduction, or consumer acceptance of competing products, changes in pricing or other actions by competitors, patents owned by the Company and its competitors, and general economic conditions, as well as other risks detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.