Salix Pharmaceuticals Reports Digestive Disease Week 2006 UPDATE; Wednesday, May 24 - One XIFAXAN(R) Poster

Pouchitis

Blair Lewis, M. D., Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY etal. evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of rifaximin in thetreatment of patients with refractory pouchitis. A total of 16patients participated in the study. Patients who had a diagnosis ofpouchitis, confirmed by means of pouchoscopy with severity defined asmoderate-severe using the Pouchitis Disease Activity Index,participated in the study. All patients were refractory to alltherapies including metronidazole, ciprofloxacin and probitoic therapywith VSL-3, Lactobacillus or Saccaromyces boullardi, including sixpatients who had also failed treatment with budesonide. A total of 11patients were treated with rifaximin 400 mg BID and five patients weretreated with rifaximin 200 mg TID. Significant improvement wasdemonstrated in 82% of patients treated with 400 mg BID and in 80% ofpatients treated with 200 mg TID. All patients with clinical responseimproved within 3 weeks and there were no adverse effects reported asa result of treatment. All patients with previously medicallyrefractory pouchitis who responded to rifaximin continued maintenancetherapy with a mean dose of 400 mg per day and sustained clinicalimprovement during a mean follow-up period of 16 weeks.

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., headquartered in Raleigh, NorthCarolina, develops and markets prescription pharmaceutical productsfor the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. Salix's strategy is toin-license late-stage or marketed proprietary therapeutic drugs,complete any required development and regulatory submission of theseproducts, and market them through the Company's 150-membergastroenterology specialty sales and marketing team.

XIFAXAN(R) (rifaximin) tablets 200 mg is indicated for thetreatment of patients (greater than or equal to 12 years of age) withtravelers' diarrhea caused by noninvasive strains of Escherichia coli.XIFAXAN should not be used in patients with diarrhea complicated byfever or blood in the stool or diarrhea due to pathogens other thanEscherichia coli. XIFAXAN should be discontinued if diarrhea symptomsget worse or persist more than 24-48 hours and alternative antibiotictherapy should be considered. In clinical trials, XIFAXAN wasgenerally well tolerated. The most common side effects (vs. placebo)were flatulence 11.3% (vs. 19.7%), headache 9.7% (vs. 9.2%), abdominalpain 7.2% (vs. 10.1 %) and rectal tenesmus 7.2% (vs. 8.8%).

Salix also markets COLAZAL(R) Capsules 750 mg, VISICOL(R) Tablets,OSMOPREP(TM) Tablets, AZASAN(R), Anusol-HC(R) Cream 2.5%, Anusol-HC(R)25 mg Suppository, Proctocort(R) Cream 1% and Proctocort(R)Suppositories. MOVIPREP(R) and granulated mesalamine are underdevelopment.

Salix trades on the Nasdaq National Market under the ticker symbol"SLXP".

For more information on Salix please call 919-862-1000 or visitwww.salix.com. Information on the web site is not incorporated inSalix's SEC filings.

DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians,researchers and academics in the fields of gastroenterology,hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. Jointly sponsoredby the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, theAmerican Gastroenterological Association, the American Society forGastrointestinal Endoscopy and the Society for Surgery of theAlimentary Tract, DDW takes place May 20-25, 2006, at the Los AngelesConvention Center. The meeting showcases approximately 5,000 abstractsand hundreds of lectures on the latest advances in GI research,medicine and technology. For more information, visit www.ddw.org.

Please Note: This press release contains forward-lookingstatements regarding future events. These statements are justpredictions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that couldcause the actual events or results to differ materially. These risksand uncertainties include risks of regulatory review and clinicaltrials, intellectual property risks, rapid growth and the need toacquire additional products. The reader is referred to the documentsthat the Company files from time to time with the Securities andExchange Commission.