Robert Taber, Former Dupont Vice President, Joins Palatin Board.

Business Editors

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2001

Palatin Technologies, Inc. (AMEX: PTN) today announced the appointment of Robert Taber, Ph.D., to the company's board of directors.

Dr. Taber is the former vice president of pharmaceutical research of DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and most recently served as co-founder and chief executive officer of Message Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a private start-up biotechnology company developing a drug discovery platform based on RNA regulation.

"We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Taber to the Palatin Board," said John Prendergast, Ph.D., chairman of Palatin. "He brings considerable expertise in drug discovery and development, as well as both large and small company perspectives regarding the establishment of productive corporate collaborations. His input will be of tremendous value as we advance our products through preclinical and clinical development, and seek to leverage the value of our MIDAS discovery platform, both for our own product pipeline and for that of potential partners."

Dr. Taber began his long career in the pharmaceutical industry in 1962, holding a succession of positions within Schering Corporation's biological research group ending in 1982 as director of biological research. During subsequent years, he held a number of positions with increasing responsibilities at DuPont Pharmaceuticals and the DuPont Merck Pharmaceutical Company including director of pharmaceutical research, director of pharmaceutical and biotechnology research, vice president of pharmaceutical research and vice president of extramural research and development. From 1994 to 1998 Dr. Taber held the position of senior vice president of research and development at Synaptic Pharmaceuticals Corporation before founding Message Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1998.

Dr. Taber holds a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the Medical College of Virginia. He received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the Medical College of Virginia and was the first recipient of the DuPont Merck Research and Development Award of Excellence. He is the author of over 50 papers and abstracts.

Palatin Technologies, Inc. is a development-stage biopharmaceutical technology company developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products for diagnostic imaging and therapy based on its proprietary monoclonal antibody radiolabeling and enabling peptide platform technologies. For further information visit the Palatin web site at www.palatin.com.

Statements about the Company's future expectations, including development and regulatory plans, and all other statements in this document other than historical facts, are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends that such forward-looking statements be subject to the safe harbors created thereby.

Palatin's actual results may differ materially from its historical results of operations and those discussed in the forward-looking statements for various reasons, including, but not limited to the Company's ability to carry out its business plan, successful development and commercial acceptance of its products, ability to fund development of technology, the risk that products may not result from development activities, protection of its intellectual property, ability to establish and successfully complete clinical trials for product approval, need for regulatory approvals, dependence on it partners for development of certain projects, and other factors discussed in the Company's periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company is not responsible for events not updated after the date on this press release.