SAS supports launch of inaugural Pharmaceutical Users Software Exchange in Heidelberg

-- Knowledge exchange event for SAS® professionals in the pharmaceutical industry --

HEIDELBERG, GERMANY (September 9, 2005) – SAS, the leader in business intelligence, will host the first-ever Pharmaceutical Users Software Exchange (PhUSE) Oct. 10-12, in the historic city of Heidelberg, Germany, at the Kongresshaus Stadthalle Heidelberg, opposite SAS EMEA Headquarters. The inaugural PhUSE event is being organized by a committee of pharmaceutical industry leaders that includes representatives from Accovion, Amadeus, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biogen Idec, Covance, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, OPS, Pfizer, PPD, Quintiles and Roche.

Chaired by Stephen Bamford, Associate Director of the Statistical Analysis and Reporting Group for Pfizer, PhUSE will facilitate a global, synergistic network of SAS® users for the industry and will provide a European forum for SAS programmers working in health and life sciences. The conference will facilitate and promote the exchange of new information and ideas relating to SAS software within the industry. PhUSE will include presentations by specialists in SAS software throughout the pharmaceutical industry worldwide, including a Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC) stream headlined by Rebecca Kush, Ph.D., President of CDISC.

"We are very happy for SAS’ support of the inaugural PhUSE conference," Bamford said. "PhUSE will provide a forum for the user base to meet, exchange ideas and share successes. There will be the opportunity to meet SAS experts as well as to hear the latest information from global standards bodies. We have over 60 presentations providing exciting and varied content for the conference, and there has been very good feedback from fellow users thus far. We are expecting a good turnout and a great event."

"SAS boasts a huge, enthusiastic pharmaceutical user community worldwide, and the ongoing success of the annual PharmaSUG conference in the United States has prompted our users to launch PhUSE for the European pharmaceutical community," said Karen Miller, Ph.D., business development manager for SAS Health and Life Sciences. "For nearly 30 years, SAS has been used within health and life sciences research, including pharmaceutical, biotechnology and public sector institutions. Our users are important to us and an open forum for all the user communities is crucial. We are very pleased and proud to be supporting this event."

About the Pharmaceutical Users Software Exchange (PhUSE)
The Pharmaceutical Users Software Exchange, more commonly known as PhUSE, is a non-profit organization run by volunteers. Its purpose is to create a European forum for programmers in the pharmaceutical industry with an annual, multiple-day conference. For more information about registration, sponsorship and a full list of papers that will be presented at the 2005 conference, please see: www.phuse.info