Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Awarded SBIR from National Institute of Aging for Alzheimer's Disease Program

September 14, 2004 – Gaithersburg, Maryland – Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Aging (NIA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

"We are thrilled to be awarded this SBIR grant from the NIH supporting our Alzheimer's program and pleased to note that with this, our fifth SBIR award, we have received the explicit endorsement of our scientific colleagues for each of our research programs," stated Michael S. Lebowitz, PhD, Director of Research.

The grant, entitled, "Novel Agents for Alzheimer's Disease Therapy," will provide funding to further study a newly identified class of compounds, including a lead candidate PAN-811, that are novel, bio-available, and potent neuroprotective agents. Recent results have demonstrated that PAN-811 can efficiently block the neuronal damage and degeneration associated with oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a primary initiating event in Alzheimer's and other chronic neurodegenerative diseases. The work proposed under this SBIR will first elucidate the structure and activity relationship for PAN-811 and several of its analogs resulting in further insight into both the mechanism of drug action and improvement upon the anti-oxidative stress properties of this lead candidate. The second portion of this work is focused on the characterization of these compounds in a novel cellular model of Alzheimer's disease that most closely models in vitro the cellular neuropathology identified in diseased brains.

PAN-811 is already under investigation at Panacea for the treatment of ischemia-related diseases, which encompass a large group of maladies and associated syndromes resulting from neuronal cell death subsequent to ischemia. The clinical significance of cerebral ischemia is compounded by the lack of effective neuroprotective treatments that directly inhibit ischemic neuronal death. Therefore, discovery and development of neuroprotectants is a priority in the prevention and treatment of ischemic-related disease. This work has previously been supported through SBIR funding.

Market Opportunity

Recent studies in the etiology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have indicated that hypoxia caused by hypoperfusion of the brain may contribute to the initiation and progress of the disease. AD is marked by significant neurodegeneration associated with high levels of oxidative stress and cellular oxidative damage. Approximately 4 million people in the US are affected with AD, and that number is expected to grow as the US population ages.

Ischemia is often associated with neuronal injury and subsequent neurodegeneration. Focal ischemia as occurs in ischemic stroke causes both brain as well as spinal cord damage. In the US, the incidence of stroke is on the order of 800,000 cases per year and more than 4 million peoples are currently living with the consequences of stroke. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the US, and a major cause of long-term disability.

Global ischemia occurs in many abnormal conditions, including intracerebral hemorrhage due to hypertension and subarachnoid hemorrhage, as well it associates with cardiac arrest, hypotension, closed head injury, drowning, strangulation, and open-heart surgery. Hypoxia induced cognitive decline has been identified at discharge in 53% of patients following coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) operations. Although there is some further recovery, long-term measurements suggest that this decline is not transient (42% of patients at five years). Approximately 500,000 CABG procedures are performed in the US each year and a similar number are performed in Europe.

About Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Panacea Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on utilizing functional genomics and proteomics to develop therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases with substantial unmet clinical need. The Company's product development focus is on novel proteins and biochemical pathways related to cellular regulation and cell cycle abnormalities in oncology as well as both acute and chronic neurodegenerative conditions such as hypoxia-induced cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

More information is available at http://www.PanaceaPharma.com.

Except for historical information presented in this press release, matters discussed herein may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management only as of the date of this release and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, uncertainties related to our access to capital, the progress, costs, and results of any clinical trials undertaken by us, progress of our research and development projects, and uncertainties related to whether our product candidates would ultimately achieve commercial success. We do not undertake any obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise unless required by law.