Former Quintiles and Glaxo Executive, Santo J. Costa, Joins Dermatrends Board of Directors.

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MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2004

Dermatrends, Inc., a privately held research and development company devoted to transdermal and other drug delivery technologies, has strengthened its board of directors with the addition of Santo J. (Sandy) Costa, former president and chief operating officer of Quintiles Transnational Corporation and a consultant to A.M. Pappas & Associates, a leading venture capital and consulting firm serving the life sciences industry.

"Mr. Costa has been a great advisor to Dermatrends in the past," said Ted Schwarzrock, Dermatrends chairman, president and chief executive officer. "We are very excited to have him deepen his commitment to our success by joining our board of directors. The rest of the board and I believe that his broad experience in the pharmaceutical industry will be invaluable for Dermatrends moving forward."

Mr. Costa joined Quintiles Transnational Corp. in April 1994. During his six year tenure as president and chief operating officer, Quintiles transformed itself from a contract research organization into a fully integrated global service company. Annual revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 80 percent, rising from $90 million to $1.6 billion, with net income rising from $6.7 million to $109 million. Quintiles Transnational helps improve healthcare worldwide by providing a broad range of professional services, information and partnering solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and healthcare industries. Headquartered near Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, Quintiles is a member of the S&P 500 and Fortune 1000.

Mr. Costa began his career as food and drug counsel for Norwich/Eaton Pharmaceuticals. Before joining Quintiles, he spent 23 years in the pharmaceutical industry, eventually serving as senior vice president and general counsel of Glaxo Inc. GlaxoSmithKline, one of the world's leading research-base pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. Mr. Costa sat on the Glaxo's board of directors and was deeply involved in managing the company's growth from $600 million in annual revenues in 1986 to nearly $3 billion in annual revenues in 1993. Prior to joining Glaxo, Mr. Costa was U.S. area counsel for Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals.

Mr. Costa is on the board of advisors at A. M. Pappas & Associates, a leading venture capital firm focused on the medical and biotechnology industries. He also sits on the Board of Directors of NPS Pharmaceuticals, C V Therapeutics, Ribapharm, DigiScripts and Yonkers Industries and serves as an adjunct professor in the clinical research program at the Campbell University School of Pharmacy, where he has lectured on food and drug law along with a wide variety of other issues affecting the pharmaceutical industry.

He also sits on the board of directors of The Duke Medical Center Children's Classic and the North Carolina Outward Bound School, the Duke Brain Tumor Advisory Committee, the Duke University Medical Center Board of Visitors, and the Food and Drug Law Institute Advisory Board. Mr. Costa received his B.S. in pharmacy and his Juris Doctor degrees from St. John's University in 1968 and 1971 respectively. He is married and has three children.

Dermatrends, Inc. is a privately held medical research and development company with business offices in Minneapolis, Minn. and with scientific laboratories in San Diego, California. The company is dedicated to the development of proprietary drug delivery technologies and has demonstrated an enabling platform technology that allows a broad variety of ethical and over-the-counter drugs to permeate the skin and mucosal surface at therapeutic levels in excess of anything currently available.

For company information and market development, contact Ted Schwarzrock, CEO, at 952-920-5383 or contact the company via email at [e-mail].

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