About PharmaNetics : Press Releases : ™

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2001

PHARMANETICS ANNOUNCES LAUNCH BY BAYER DIAGNOSTICS OF RAPIDPOINT™ ACCENT - HEPARIN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

RALEIGH, N.C. (January 9, 2001) - PharmaNetics, Inc. (NASDAQ NM: PHAR) ), PharmaNetics, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM:PHAR), a leading company specializing in theranostic management of various therapeutics affecting coagulation, and Bayer Diagnostics, a part of the worldwide Bayer Group, today jointly announced that Bayer has launched Rapidpoint™ Accent, a new system for coagulation testing and monitoring.

The heparin management panel and data processor that comprise Rapidpoint Accent were developed and are manufactured by PharmaNetics, Inc. In 1998, Bayer Diagnostics signed a worldwide distribution agreement with PharmaNetics to market Rapidpoint Coag, a multi-test analyzer for monitoring anticoagulation therapy and determining a patient's coagulation status at the point of care. Rapidpoint Coag test cards include the Heparin Management and Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time Tests as well as three different tests for Prothrombin Time (PT). The Company's three PT test cards (PT, PT-One and PT- NC) provide flexibility of sample type (whole blood and/or citrated) and ISI values. In addition, two new test cards - Low Range Heparin Management and Ecarin Clotting Time – are scheduled for release in 2001.

Rapidpoint Accent is a high-dose heparin management system that automatically calculates the information required by physicians to recommend, monitor and measure heparin dosage, effect and reversal throughout a patient's cardiac bypass procedure for better preservation of hemostatic function. This enhanced patient management can result in less blood loss, fewer complications, minimal risk to patient from exposure to blood products and better outcomes overall.

Rapidpoint Accent includes simple and easy to use test cards including Bayer's currently available Heparin Management Test and two new tests — the Heparin Titration Test™ and the Protamine Response Test™.

"Coagulation testing is an important component of Bayer's near patient testing menu," said Fran Tuttle, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Near Patient Testing, Bayer Diagnostics. "Rapidpoint Accent complements Bayer's Rapidpoint Coag initiative and adds further value to our coagulation portfolio. Bayer's test menu for anticoagulation management is the broadest in the industry servicing the OR, ICU, CCU, Catheterization Lab and Coumadin“ Clinic. As more new anticoagulant therapies are adopted for use, our comprehensive test menu will become increasingly important and will translate into an important competitive advantage for Bayer Diagnostics."

With more than 7,500 employees worldwide and 1999 sales of close to $1.8 billion, Bayer Diagnostics (www.bayerdiag.com), based in Tarrytown, New York, USA, is one of the largest diagnostic businesses in the world. The organization supports customers in 100 countries through an extensive portfolio of central laboratory, self-testing, nucleic acid, point of care and critical care diagnostics systems and services for use in the assessment and management of health, including the areas of cardiovascular disease, oncology, virology, women's health and diabetes. Bayer Diagnostics is a part of the worldwide Bayer Group, a $29 billion international life sciences, polymers and specialty chemicals group based in Leverkusen, Germany. Bayer Diagnostics' global headquarters in the United States operates as part of Bayer Corporation of Pittsburgh, a research-based company with major businesses in health care, life science and chemicals.

PharmaNetics, Inc., a leading biotech company, conceived the term "theranostics," defining an emerging new field of medicine that enables physicians to therapeutically manage coagulation parameters of their patients in the treatment of angina, myocardial infarction (heart attack), stroke, and pulmonary and arterial emboli. The Company's proprietary diagnostic platform generates rapid feedback on blood clot formulation and dissolution. The Company's technology platform is the primary driver of existing collaborations with a number of major pharmaceutical companies, including Aventis Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca and Knoll BASF, to develop theranostic tests for specific compounds and disease indications being developed by these corporations. If those drugs receive FDA approval, PharmaNetics' tests could become an essential component of the treatment modality of these drugs affecting coagulation.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of PharmaNetics that involve risks and uncertainties such as risks related to market acceptance, clinical trials and dependence on third-party distributors and collaborative partners that could cause actual results to differ materially form those projected in the forward-looking statements. Information concerning these and other of the factors that could cause results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports.