Exhibit 99.1

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:  Adam C. Derbyshire            Mike Freeman
          Vice President and            Director, Investor Relations and
          Chief Financial Officer       Corporate Communications
          919-862-1000                  919-862-1000


          SALIX PHARMACEUTICALS ACQUIRES BALSALAZIDE RIGHTS FOR JAPAN, KOREA AND
          TAIWAN

RALEIGH, NC, August 27, 2001 - Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd.  (Nasdaq:SLXP) today
announced that it has acquired the exclusive right and license to develop,
manufacture and commercialize balsalazide in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  Salix
Pharmaceuticals previously had acquired an exclusive license from Biorex
Laboratories Limited for worldwide balsalazide rights, excluding Japan, Korea
and Taiwan.  Under the new agreement, Biorex will participate in any future
payments, milestone revenues and royalties paid to Salix related to balsalazide
in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.  Salix Pharmaceuticals intends to seek a corporate
partner for balsalazide in these territories.

Salix began marketing balsalazide disodium, its new first-line therapy for the
treatment of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis, under the trade
name COLAZAL(TM) in the United States in January 2001. In May 2000, Salix sold
the commercial rights to balsalazide to Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc for
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Republic of
Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United
Kingdom. Salix has previously licensed the exclusive rights to balsalazide to
Menarini Pharmaceutical Industries S.R.L. for Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece.

Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, develops
and markets prescription pharmaceutical products for the treatment of
gastrointestinal diseases.  Salix's strategy is to in-license proprietary
therapeutic drugs which have an existing database of positive, late-stage
clinical data; complete the development and regulatory submission of these
products; and market them through the Company's gastroenterology specialty sales
force.  Salix's lead


product is COLAZAL(TM), an anti-inflammatory drug approved for the treatment of
mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. The Company launched the product
in the U.S. through its specialty sales force in January 2001. Salix's follow-on
product candidate is rifaximin, currently in development for the potential
treatment of infections of the lower gastrointestinal tract. The Company
currently intends to submit an NDA for rifaximin for the treatment of infectious
diarrhea to the U.S. FDA in late 2001. Salix trades on the Nasdaq National
Market under the ticker symbol "SLXP."

For more information please contact the Company at 919-862-1000.

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     Please Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements
     regarding future events. These statements are just predictions and are
     subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual events or
     results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include our
     dependence on licenses, our dependence on international distribution
     relationships, the uncertainty of market acceptance of COLAZAL and
     rifaximin, risks of clinical trials and regulatory review, and currency
     fluctuations. The reader is referred to the documents that the Company
     files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.