DaVita Inc. announced that it has received notice that Amgen Inc. has increased the Wholesaler Acquisition Price for EPOGEN by 3.9%, effective May 9, 2001 at 5:01 PM Pacific Time. This pricing increase will not affect DaVita in 2001 as the Company has pricing protection in its existing contract. DaVita is not changing the 2001 or 2002 EBITDA guidance provided in its Q1 earnings conference call.

"Dialysis providers and payors will certainly be disappointed with this abuse of monopoly power by a company that has enjoyed extraordinary profits on this product at the expense of Medicare and other payors over the last decade," stated Kent Thiry, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of DaVita Inc.

DaVita is a leading provider of dialysis services for patients suffering from chronic kidney failure. The Company owns and operates kidney dialysis centers and home peritoneal dialysis programs domestically in 32 states, as well as Washington, D.C. It also provides acute hemodialysis services to inpatients at approximately 280 hospitals. As of March 31, 2001 we operated 486 outpatient dialysis facilities serving over 41,000 patients, including 3,400 patients in 34 centers under management.

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SOURCE: DaVita Inc.