SYSTEMS XCELLENCE AWARDED $3.0 MILLION SOFTWARE LICENSE CONTRACT WITH NATIONAL U.S. BASED MANAGED CARE ORGANIZATION

MILTON, ON, July 8, 2002 -- Systems Xcellence Inc., (TSX: SXC) a leading provider of healthcare information technology solutions throughout the pharmaceutical benefits supply chain, today announced a contract valued at over $3.0 million to provide licensed software and professional services to a large managed care organization (MCO) in the United States. All dollar amounts are in Canadian, except where noted.

Under the terms of the contract, SXC will provide the MCO with its RxMAX p-Series software to enhance the MCO's ability to manage and model its contractual arrangements with pharmaceutical manufacturers. In return, SXC will receive approximately $3.0 million in license, consulting and implementation fees that the company expects to recognize over a 12-18 month period. SXC will also earn an annually renewable maintenance fee on the contract. This announcement marks the first sale of SXC's "p-Series" solution, which permits RxMAX to operate on the IBM p-Series (AIX/Open System) hardware platform, in addition to the existing solution that runs on the IBM i-series (AS/400) platform.

"We are very pleased to have earned this business with one of the most prestigious MCOs in the country," said Gordon S. Glenn, President & CEO of Systems Xcellence. "With more than 10 million lives under management, this MCO is one of the largest and most successful organizations in our marketplace. Our ability to service their interests will fortify our reputation as a leading vendor of scaleable and secure transaction management systems to companies throughout the pharmaceutical supply chain."

SXC's newest customer will utilize RxMAX p-Series to manage more than 60 pharmaceutical manufacturer contracts and process approximately 150 million pharmacy claims representing over US$6 billion in drug spend annually. "Not only will the RxMAX product enable our customers to generate more efficient and lucrative discount pricing arrangements with pharmaceutical manufacturers, but it can also support rapid growth in transaction volumes. We look to our ability to deliver such flexible cost-saving solutions as a catalyst for future business with both this client and other MCOs," added Mr. Glenn.

About RxMAX and RxMAX p-Series

Pharmaceutical manufacturers have become more varied and innovative in the manner in which they offer rebates, or pricing discounts related to performance-based contracts, to organizations such as national health plans, MCOs and HMOs. RxMAX was developed by SXC to allow customers to manage these increasingly complex and demanding performance-based relationships. RxMAX empowers customers to manage and to track contractual relationships using a flexible, scaleable, comprehensive software system. Among its features is the ability to produce rebate utilization files, both in summary and detail, employing sophisticated rebate calculations incorporating market share and market movement data. RxMAX also allows for the tracking of rebate payment information and analyzing and modeling the impact of rebates on prescription costs and total drug spend. With the introduction of RxMAX for the p-Series operating platform, the RxMAX suite of solutions is now available to meet the needs of customers who prefer either the IBM i-Series (AS/400) or p-Series (AIX/Open System) architecture.

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. 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, 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.

The Company's products offer its customers comprehensive pharmacy benefits management, claims switching and processing, drug dispensing, data warehousing and analysis, and rebate contract management systems. SXC delivers these solutions to its customers as software products bundled with systems implementation and consulting services, or on an ASP basis from its data centres in Scottsdale, Arizona and Lombard, Illinois. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SXC. 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 Management Discussion and Analysis published in the Company's annual report.