sAS delivers SAS® Enterprise BI Server to OSI Pharmaceuticals

-- Integrated business intelligence platform to guide physicians in oncology patient care --

PHILADELPHIA (April 11, 2005) – SAS announced today that OSI Pharmaceuticals Inc., a leading biotechnology company primarily focused on discovering, developing and commercializing high-quality oncology products for cancer patients worldwide, has selected the SAS®9 Enterprise BI Server to prepare detailed clinical reports and other patient data presentations for doctors and scientists. SAS, the world’s largest privately held software company, is the leader in business intelligence (BI) software.

OSI plans to implement the SAS®9 Enterprise BI Server to help its doctors access the underlying data and diagnosis for each patient to expedite medical reviews.

SAS Enterprise BI Server, a component of the SAS®9 Intelligence Platform, empowers users at all skill levels, supplying them with targeted interfaces that support individual needs. With its suite of enterprisewide ad hoc query and reporting capabilities, SAS Enterprise BI Server applies the power of SAS analytics and data management – unique to the BI marketplace.

"SAS’ BI enhancements will greatly contribute to our internal patient review process and could speed up the decision-making process, which is critical in the biopharmaceutical industry where time is money," said George Hage, associate director of statistical programming at OSI Pharmaceuticals. "We are excited about the possibilities of the SAS Enterprise BI Server. Providing our doctors and scientists with easy access to the latest business intelligence tools from SAS that link directly to advanced analytics should allow them to make more highly informed decisions and take quicker actions."

"SAS is the industry standard, so it was practical for OSI Pharmaceuticals to build and standardize on SAS analytics and reporting," said Hage.

SAS will also provide advanced analytic capabilities for OSI, including forecasting, modeling and optimization. Thus equipped, OSI will be able to explore and analyze data through an intuitive user interface. This analytic-driven BI includes predictive analytics, which not only allows for detailed historic information, but is designed to provide accurate foresight. It also allows users to predict and determine best outcomes by lowering risks and helping doctors identify new opportunities and better understand the associated risks and benefits for each patient.

The emergence of the CDISC SDTM data model for submitting data to the FDA further drives the business decision to implement the latest SAS technologies. SAS®9 provides enhanced capabilities for dealing with XML files in general, and the CDISC models in particular. "We already use SAS at many stages in the drug development process, and being able to use SAS to address the CDISC standards is a logical next step," said Hage.

Hage said OSI has established a high-quality oncology clinical development and regulatory affairs capability. The company will implement Web-based tools to speed up its internal medical review process for oncology services that doctors customize for each patient.

According to Hage, OSI intends to use the SAS Enterprise BI Server architecture, in particular the SAS Web Report Studio and SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office, to eventually enhance the medical review process and to track data.

With SAS Web Report Studio, non-technical decision makers have enhanced Web-based query and reporting functions that allow them to self-sufficiently access high-quality data and SAS’ predictive analytic capabilities. With SAS Add-In for Microsoft Office, users have an Excel environment to do more thorough analysis of data with SAS analytics, as well as the same rich capabilities in reporting and data access, directly from the Microsoft Office environment.

"I am excited about implementing SAS Business Intelligence, with the intent of reducing data review time for our doctors," said OSI’s Hage. "This, in turn, should save the programmers from responding to routine ad hoc requests and it should save the doctors’ time because they’ll have quick access to our data."

"We’re happy that OSI Pharmaceuticals plans to expand its BI architecture with SAS. This will give the doctors crystal-clear reports that save valuable time," said Rob Stephens, director of technology strategy at SAS. "The BI architecture and the ability to allow doctors current access to the data will help them, and ultimately, could help them extend the lives of oncology patients around the world."

The announcement came at the 30th annual SAS Users Group International (SUGI) conference. More than 3,000 SAS users from around the world attended this year’s SUGI in Philadelphia.

About OSI Pharmaceuticals