PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: SXC

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

 

SYSTEMS XCELLENCE ANNOUNCES US $1.2 MILLION RxEXPRESS® FOR WINDOWS® CONTRACT

MILTON, Ontario September 21, 2004, Systems Xcellence Inc., ("SXC") (TSX: SXC) a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain, today announced a US$1.2 million agreement through its U.S. subsidiary, SXC Health Solutions, Inc., with a national mail-order pharmacy based in the U.S. Under the terms of the agreement, the mail-order pharmacy licensed SXC's RxEXPRESS® for Windows® pharmacy management system ("RxEXPRESS") to manage its mail-order pharmacy needs. In exchange for this, SXC will receive license, consulting, maintenance and upgrade fees based on usage volumes. Implementation of the system is expected to be completed by the end of calendar 2004. All amounts are in U.S. dollars.

As the most rapidly growing segment of the pharmacy market, mail-order fulfillment represented approximately 17% of outpatient prescription drug sales in the U.S. for the twelve-month period ended September 30, 2003, according to IMS Health data, up almost 67% from the prior comparable period. Mail-order is gaining in popularity as it offers health plans and their members a number of key benefits such as: potential for a higher rate of medication compliance; lower health plan costs through the optimal utilization of generic and preferred brand drugs; lower health plan member co-pay fees; and the convenience of refilling prescriptions on-line or by phone.

"Expanding our presence in the growing mail-order pharmacy segment is a priority for SXC, as we further develop our suite of pharmacy management system offerings to target retail, mail-order, clinics and small-and-large chain pharmacies," said Gordon S. Glenn, President & CEO of SXC. "Our RxEXPRESS offering is well-suited to help pharmacies cost-effectively manage their increased workload related to the rising volume of prescription drug claims, and we continue to make the necessary investment to address the market demand for state-of-the-art systems offering robust functionality."

RxEXPRESS is a highly versatile pharmacy management system designed for retail, mail-order, managed care, and central fill pharmacy operations. RxEXPRESS supports flexible pricing formulas, performs drug utilization reviews, optimizes generic substitution, and can be integrated with other pharmacy and patient management systems for full enterprise wide control. Extensive standard and customized reporting capabilities are designed to meet government-mandated guidelines as well as customized business management requirements.

About Systems Xcellence Inc.


Systems Xcellence (SXC) is headquartered in Milton, Ontario with offices and processing centres in Lombard, Illinois, Scottsdale, Arizona and Victoria, British Columbia and operates in the U.S. under its wholly-owned subsidiary, SXC Health Solutions, Inc. SXC is a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions and services to the healthcare benefits management industry. The company's product offerings and solutions combine a wide range of software applications, application service provider (ASP) processing services and professional services, designed for many of the largest organizations in the pharmaceutical supply chain, such as pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, retail pharmacy chains and other healthcare intermediaries. SXC can be found on the Internet at www.sxc.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These forward-looking statements entail various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's Annual Information Form.


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For more information, please contact:

Irwin Studen

Dave Mason

Chief Financial Officer

Investor Relations

Systems Xcellence

Equicom Group

Tel: (905) 876-4741

Tel: (416) 815-0700 x237

Fax: (905) 876-4447

Fax: (416) 815-0080

Email: investors@sxc.com

dmason@equicomgroup.com
www.investorlook.com