Santa Rosa Institute Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2003

Santa Rosa Institute Annual Meeting Highlights

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edward Westhead, M.D., today reviewed the Company's major accomplishments and events of 2002-2003 at the Company's annual meeting. Santa Rosa Institute shareholders voted to re-elect three current members of the Institute's Board of Directors to serve a three-year term ending in 2006. The re-elected Directors are Lee Eddy, Dr. Westhead and Clarence Ragsdale. In addition, shareholders voted to ratify PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the Institute's independent accountants for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2003; to approve the Institute's 2003 Omnibus Equity Plan; and to approve the Company's Performance Based Management Incentive Plan.

"2003 is unfolding as we planned," said Dr. Westhead. "We are very focused on continuing to advance and improve the pipeline and we are beginning to see the payoff from our investments over the past three years. As a consequence, I expect earnings to begin growing faster than revenues."

At the meeting, presenters explained that research and development of GENUFLEX is on track. GENUFLEX is in the animal trial phase, and results of the trials will be announced later this summer.

Guidance for full-year 2003 reported earnings is not currently accessible as the Company cannot predict with any certainty the nature or the amount of non-operating or unusual charges for subsequent quarters. The Company does, however, anticipate that it may have to take such charges in subsequent quarters and that such charges, if material, would cause reported earnings per share to differ from operating earnings per share.

About the Santa Rosa Institute

The Santa Rosa Institute, winner of the U.S. National Medal of Technology, is a leading biotechnology company that discovers and develops human pharmaceuticals for significant unmet medical needs. The company has its headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico.