Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook Will Join Sabrina Johnson and SJS Foundation Founder Jean McCawley at 11 A.M. Press Conference in Gaithersburg, MD

Business Wire, Feb 16, 2005

Seven-Year-Old SJS Victim Sabrina Johnson Will Ask FDA to
             Reinstate Warning Label on Children's Motrin
                    about Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

         SJS Founder Jean McCawley Will Discuss Dramatic Rise
                   in Reported SJS Cases in Children

      Public Citizen's Joan Claybrook Will Address the Importance
      of Warning Labels, Particularly for Children's Medications

WHAT:
        At 11:00 A.M. on Thursday, February 17, seven-year-old
        Sabrina Brierton Johnson, of Topanga, CA, and a victim of
        Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS), and Mrs. Jean McCawley,
        founder of the Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation, will hold
        a joint press conference in the Lobby of the Hilton Washington
        North, 620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD. They seek the
        FDA's help in reinstating a warning label on Children's Motrin
        about SJS. Mrs. McCawley will discuss the dramatic rise in
        reported SJS cases in children.

        They will be joined by Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook
        who will talk about the importance of warning labels,
        particularly for children's medications, referencing the
        struggle it took to put a warning label on aspirin about Reyes
        Syndrome.

        The press conference is being held relative to the FDA's
        three-day meeting of the Arthritis Advisory Committee and the
        Drug Safety and Risk Management Advisory Committee from
        February 16-18, 2005 which will discuss the overall benefit to
        risk considerations for COX-2 selective NSAIDS (non-steroidal
        anti-inflammatory drugs) and related agents. Sabrina's
        parents, Ken and Joan Brierton Johnson, and brother Travis
        Johnson will attend, as well as her attorney Browne Greene
        with the Santa Monica, CA law firm of Greene, Broillet, Panish
        & Wheeler (www.gbpwlaw.com).

        After the press conference, Sabrina Brierton Johnson will be
        the first person to speak at the FDA's Open Public Hearing
        segment of this meeting at approximately 1:00 P.M. in the
        Ballrooms at the Hilton Washington DC North. She will ask the
        FDA to reinstate a warning label about SJS that was removed in
        1995 when Children's Motrin was approved for over-the-counter
        sale by the FDA. On behalf of the SJS Foundation, Mrs.
        McCawley, through a written statement submitted to the FDA for
        this Meeting, will advocate that over-the-counter ibuprofen
        require a black box warning.

WHO:
        Sabrina Brierton Johnson filed a complaint for damages on
        December 28, 2004 against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) in Los
        Angeles Superior Court/Compton Division claiming that an
        allergic reaction to taking Children's Motrin (Stevens-Johnson
        Syndrome) caused her to become blind and photosensitive. She
        claims that Defendants' failure to warn the public or educate
        the medical community about the possible risk of SJS
        associated with using over-the-counter Children's Motrin makes
        it an unsafe product and dangerous to sell to consumers, which
        is why she wants the FDA to reinstate a warning label. Sabrina
        Brierton Johnson vs. Johnson & Johnson, et. al., Case Number
        TC 018540.

        Mrs. Jean McCawley, from Westminster, CO, has an 11-year-old
        daughter, Julie, who became an SJS victim when she was only
        11 months old and who is now blind as a result. Mrs. McCawley
        founded the SJS Foundation (www.sjsupport.org) in 1996 to make
        information about SJS more accessible to the public. She will
        discuss the dramatic rise in reported SJS cases in children,
        and the need to institute a Federal system to report and track
        SJS cases.

        Joan Claybrook is President of Public Citizen is a 30-year old
        non-profit organization based in Washington, DC
        (www.citizen.org) dedicated to protecting health, safety and
        democracy. Public Citizen recently launched
        www.worstpills.org, a drug safety web site.

WHEN:
        Thursday, February 17, 2005

TIME:
        11:00 A.M.: Sabrina Brierton Johnson and Mrs. Jean McCawley
        will hold a joint press conference in the Lobby of the Hilton
        Washington DC North.

        1:00 P.M.: Sabrina Brierton Johnson will address the FDA
        public meeting on NSAIDS (www.fda.gov) at the Ballrooms at the
        Hilton Washington DC North. See http://www.fda.gov

        NOTE: Time is approximate.

WHERE:
        Hilton Washington DC North - Lobby
        620 Perry Parkway
        Gaithersburg, MD