Dendrite Announces Appointment of Merck & Co. Executive as Chief Financial Officer.

Business & Health Editors

MORRISTOWN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2000

Dendrite International, Inc., the leading provider of sales and marketing effectiveness solutions for the pharmaceutical industry (NASDAQ/NMS:DRTE), today announced the appointment of Michael G. Atieh as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Atieh will report to George Robson, who will remain in his role as Executive Vice President.

"Dendrite continues to grow at record speed building on our pharmaceutical CRM leadership position," said John Bailye, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dendrite International, Inc. "To meet these growth demands, the company is expanding its management team. With the addition of Mike and several new positions announced earlier this year, Dendrite's existing leadership will be able to focus on broadening its strategic capabilities, while simultaneously ensuring the high level of competency and service our investors, shareholders and customers expect. Mike's breadth of management experience and well respected financial competence makes him a critically important element in our ability to deliver these goals."

Mr. Atieh brings more than 25 years of experience in finance and operations, mostly with Merck & Co. In his time at Merck, Mr. Atieh held various posts, most recently as Vice President and Executive Leader, Medicare Business Initiative. Mr. Atieh's finance experience includes four years as Corporate Treasurer with worldwide responsibility for investor relations, global capital markets, cash and debt management, pension fund investments, risk and insurance management and benefits financing. In this capacity, he established the financing and communications strategies for Merck's $6.5 billion acquisition of Medco Containment Services. Other finance positions with Merck have included Director of Investor Relations and Director of Accounting.

Mr. Atieh's operational experience at Merck was as Senior Vice President, Sales for Merck- Medco Managed Care. Under his leadership, sales revenue increased $10 billion over a five-year period. Mr. Atieh has also held other executive level posts at Merck including Vice President, Government Relations, and Vice President, Public Affairs. He is a Certified Public Accountant and began his career at Ernst and Young.

Mr. Bailye added, "With Mike firmly in place as our new CFO, George will share some of my earlier responsibilities and spearhead the formation of a new consulting division within Dendrite. He will also focus on developing and implementing a comprehensive corporate strategy. His new role is a prelude to other new and expanded management positions that will be created at the company over the next year."

ABOUT DENDRITE

Dendrite International, Inc. (NASDAQ/NMS:DRTE) designs and supports technology-based knowledge systems that enhance the competitive activities of the sales forces of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. Over one-third of the pharmaceutical sales representatives and their managers in over 57 countries worldwide rely on Dendrite to provide these services to maximize representative effectiveness in the filed. Dendrite combines its world-class software products with specifically tailored coaching and support services. With a global infrastructure as its foundation, Dendrite's commitment to unparalleled service has been the hallmark of the business and the basis of strong customer loyalty since the Company's inception in 1986. Headquartered in Morristown, New Jersey, Dendrite employs over 1500 people around the world. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.dendrite.com.

Note: Dendrite is a registered trademark of Dendrite International, Inc.

This press release contains statements that are forward-looking statements and discuss expectations about future events or outcomes with respect to Dendrite and its business, including statements regarding expected results for future periods. We believe these statements are within the scope of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and we intend that these statements be covered by the safe harbors created by such acts. The forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about our company and the pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods industries and involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, Dendrite's actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from the results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements include the following: (i) our business is heavily dependent on the pharmaceutical industry; (ii) our quarterly results of operations may fluctuate significantly and may not meet market expectations; (iii) our lengthy sales and implementation cycles make it difficult to predict our quarterly revenues; (iv) our fixed costs may lead to fluctuations in our quarterly operating results if revenues fall below expectations; (v) our business is affected by variations in our customers' budget cycles; (vi) our revenues would decline and our business would be adversely affected by the loss of one of our major customers; (vii) we may be unable to successfully introduce new products or respond to technological change; (viii) increased competition may result in price reductions and decreased demand for our products and services; (ix) some of our customers rely on our competitors for market data; (x) our international operations have risks that our domestic operations do not; (xi) our success depends on retaining our key senior management team and on attracting and retaining qualified personnel; (xii) our inability to manage our growth could adversely affect our business; (xiii) our business depends on proprietary technology that we may not be to protect completely; and (xiv) the consumer packaged goods industry may have different characteristics from those we are used to in the pharmaceutical industry. In light of the significant uncertainties inherent in these forward-looking statements, you should not consider their inclusion as a representation by us or anyone else that we will achieve our objectives and plans. Moreover, we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting such forward-looking statements. For further discussion of these and other factors that could adversely affect Dendrite's financial condition and results of operations consult Dendrite's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.