Monday, May 7th, 2001 The Pierre Hotel, New York City

LAVIPHARM GROUP OF COMPANIES

Lavipharm S.A., a company established in 1911 and quoted on the Athens Stock Exchange as of November 1995, develops, manufactures, markets and distributes pharmaceutical and cosmetic products in Greece and internationally.

In Greece, Lavipharm cooperates with Aventis, American Home, 3M Healthcare, Hoffman La Roche, Mundipharma, Sanofi - Synthèlabo, Schering Plough, Schwarz Pharma, Serono, Alberto Culver, Buttler, L'Oréal, Dr. Scheffler, Alliance Unichem in the production, marketing or distribution areas.

Lavipharm's strong and established presence, combined with its international activity with own novel delivery products, makes it the most innovative and fastest growing pharmaceutical and cosmetics company in Greece with a total turnover exceeding €250 million and annual sales and profit growth of 29% and 26% respectively over the past 8 years.

Outside of Greece, Lavipharm Corporation, with R&D facilities in the U.S. and France, spearheads the development and marketing of the Group's international products. The company's mission is to link innovative drug delivery discovery and product formulation technology with molecule transport, providing integrated development services from design phase to commercialisation. This is achieved with the unique solubilisation technologies and innovative delivery systems developed by the company.

Lavipharm's first international product is a small transparent matrix nitroglycerine patch for the treatment of angina pectoris. It is marketed by the most prominent multinational pharmaceutical companies in the main European countries and in Canada and is awaiting approval in the United States. Lavipharm Laboratories also entered into an agreement with Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in November 1999 for the development of a number of products in the pain management area using Lavipharm's proprietary technology platform.

In the cosmetic field, Lavipharm has developed the first patented epidermal patch for the treatment of adolescent facial blemishes. L'Oréal is currently selling this product in approximately 40 countries worldwide under its own brands. It is also sold in the U.K. by GlaxoSmithKline and in the U.S.A. by Chattem.

The Lavipharm Group employs 850 people in Greece, 50 in the U.S. and 50 in France. Its headquarters are in Peania, a suburb of Athens, Greece. For more information, you are invited to visit the Group's website www.lavipharm.com.