PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Back to Press Releases

Toronto Stock Exchange Symbol: SXC

Systems Xcellence to Acquire ComCoTec, Inc.

Acquisition to Effectively Double Size of Company and be Immediately Accretive

MILTON, Ontario (March 9, 2001) -- Systems Xcellence Inc. (TSE: SXC) announced today that it has entered into a definitive purchase agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of ComCoTec, Inc. of Lombard, IL, a privately held corporation owned by The Potomac Group, Inc.

ComCoTec is a leading developer of software solutions and application service provider (ASP) for the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain industry. In calendar 2000, ComCoTec processed and fully adjudicated over 22,000,000 real-time pharmacy claims for 3.5 million Americans. In addition, the Company switched approximately the same number of pharmacy transactions between pharmacies and other payors.

The purchase price for the assets of ComCoTec will be financed through a combination of existing cash resources, debt and the proceeds of a $13 million special warrant offering led by Sprott Securities Inc. which was completed on March 8th, 2001. In addition, the acquisition is anticipated to be immediately accretive to SX's net earnings and cash flow. This transaction and related special warrant financing has been approved by the SX Board of Directors, and the special warrant financing has been approved by a majority of SX shareholders. The acquisition is expected to close within a week and will be deemed to be effective as of March 1, 2001.

Gordon S. Glenn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Systems Xcellence said, "The acquisition of ComCoTec is expected to significantly enhance Systems Xcellence's strategy for expanding its base of recurring revenues by offering a full suite of drug dispensing and pharmacy benefits processing services to healthcare benefits managers, managed care organizations, health plans and pharmacies. Significantly, ComCoTec's technology will expand SX's existing product and ASP offerings in the retail, mail order and managed care pharmacy marketplaces. They have great customers and great people and we couldn't be more delighted with the combination."

With combined calendar 2000 pro forma revenues (assuming ComCoTec had been owned for the full year) exceeding $Cdn 45 million and EBITDA of $4.9 million, the merger of ComCoTec and Systems Xcellence will create a powerful force in the prescription therapy management marketplace. Approximately 45% of the combined Companys' revenues are expected to be recurring and it is expected that this percentage will grow rapidly as the combined organizations continue to expand their ASP processing operations.

Gordon Glenn and Jeff Jensen, President of ComCoTec, Inc. will be hosting an investor conference call on Thursday, March 22, 2001 at 11:00 a.m. EST to discuss the benefits of the merger and the outlook going forward.

Interested parties are invited to participate by calling the conference operator at 1-800-213-2525. The call will be recorded and a re-broadcast may be heard until midnight on Thursday, March 29, 2001 by dialing 1-800-558-5253 and entering reservation 18246095#.

About ComCoTec, Inc.:

Established in 1981, ComCoTec systems process more prescription transactions annually than any other vendor in the world. Its enterprise solutions encompass every pharmacy practice setting within today's healthcare delivery systems including community pharmacies, mail service pharmacies, managed care organizations, hospitals and pharmacy benefit managers. Today, ComCoTec markets an integrated suite of pharmacy software applications that includes the RxEXPRESST Pharmacy Management System, the RxCLAIMT Claims Processing System, the RxTRACKT Data Warehousing/Ad Hoc Reporting System, RxMAXT Performance Based Contract System and the RxSERVERT Client/Server Engine and Transaction Router.

About Systems Xcellence Inc. and HxBenefit, Inc.:

Systems Xcellence is headquartered in Milton, Ontario, and provides advanced online transaction processing solutions for the healthcare benefits management industry. The Company combines robust software products, business expertise and services to deliver superior solutions to the ever-changing managed care sector. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SXC. Systems Xcellence can be found on the Internet at http://www.sxc.com.

As a wholly owned subsidiary of Systems Xcellence, HxBenefit, Inc. is an application service provider (ASP) focussed on the delivery of comprehensive pharmacy benefit processing and analysis services directly to pharmacy benefit managers (PBM's), managed care organizations (MCO's), retail pharmacies and other healthcare intermediaries involved in managing drug benefit programs. HxBenefit hosts the Systems Xcellence Inc. suite of Healthcare Xcellence (HX)ä software as an application service provider (ASP), utilizing on-line transaction processing systems and the Internet. Customers have Internet portal-based access to the Company's rich and full function suite of products on a transaction or subscription fee basis. HxBenefit, Inc. is located in its new data and operations center in Scottsdale, Arizona. HxBenefit, Inc. can be found on the Internet at http://www.hxbenefit.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 Management Discussion and Analysis published in the Company's annual report.