Sucampo Promotes Birgit Roerig, Ph.D. to Vice President, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCMP) (SPI) today announced the promotion of Birgit Roerig, Ph.D. to Vice President, Pharmacology and Toxicology at Sucampo Pharma Americas, Inc. (SPA), effective immediately, and reporting to Peter Lichtlen, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Medical Officer and Vice President, European Operations, of Sucampo AG.

Birgit Roerig, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmacology & Toxicology, at Sucampo Pharma Americas, Inc. (Photo: Financial Communication, Inc., of Bethesda, Maryland)

Dr. Roerig also was named to Sucampo’s Global R&D Leadership Team, which is headed by Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of SPI, and includes: Dr. Lichtlen; Taryn Joswick, Vice President, Clinical Development of SPA; Takashi Sekida, Ph.D., Vice President, Research Planning & Business Development, at Sucampo Pharma, Ltd. (SPL); and Gayle Dolecek, P.D., M.P.H., Executive Advisor, SPA. SPA, SAG and SPL are wholly-owned subsidiaries of SPI.

"I am very happy to recognize Dr. Roerig’s accomplishments as she plays a pivotal role in our negotiations with the FDA and contributes to the elaboration of our prostone technology through oversight of our U.S. preclinical operations. We look forward to her continued contributions and believe she will help bring Sucampo to the next level of corporate development,” said Dr. Ueno.

Since joining Sucampo in June 2005 as a Senior Scientist, Dr. Roerig has been promoted several times, most recently to Director of Pharmacology and Toxicology in September 2010. Prior to joining Sucampo, Dr. Roerig was Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, which she joined in 1998, and where her research focused on the functional response properties of cortical neurons and circuit development in visual and prefrontal cortical areas. Previously, she conducted postdoctoral research in the development of synaptic circuits and functional maps in the visual cortex at Duke University Medical Center, Department of Neurobiology, from 1996 to 1998, and at Physiological Institute Ludwig Maximilians University Munich, Department of Physiology. Dr. Roerig earned a B.S., in Biology, from the University of Bochum, Germany, and a Ph.D., in Biology, from the Max-Planck Institute for Neurobiology, in Munich-Martinsried, Germany, where her thesis topic was ion channel and neurotransmitter receptor expression in retinal development.

About Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., an international pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of medicines based on prostones. The therapeutic potential of prostones, which occur naturally in the human body as a result of enzymatic (15-PGDH) transformation of certain fatty acids, was first identified by Ryuji Ueno, M.D., Ph.D., Ph.D., Sucampo Pharmaceuticals’ Chairman and CEO. Dr. Ueno founded Sucampo Pharmaceuticals in 1996 with Sachiko Kuno, Ph.D., founding CEO and currently Executive Advisor, International Business Development and a member of the Board of Directors. For more information about Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, please visit www.sucampo.com.

Forward-Looking Statement

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for Sucampo Pharmaceuticals are forward-looking statements made under the provisions of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the words "project,” "believe,” "anticipate,” "plan,” "expect,” "estimate,” "intend,” "should,” "would,” "could,” "will,” ”may” or other similar expressions. Forward-looking statements include statements about the potential utility of AMITIZA^® and RESCULA^® to treat particular indications and expected data availability dates. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those described in Sucampo Pharmaceuticals’ filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and other periodic reports filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements in this press release represent Sucampo Pharmaceuticals’ views only as of the date of this release and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Sucampo Pharmaceuticals anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause its views to change. However, while Sucampo Pharmaceuticals may elect to update these forward-looking statements publicly at some point in the future, Sucampo Pharmaceuticals specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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