Threshold Pharmaceuticals Appoints William A. Halter and George G. C. Parker to Board of Directors

Business Wire, Oct 13, 2004

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the addition of William A. Halter and George G. C. Parker, Ph.D. to its board of directors.

Mr. Halter has over 20 years of leadership experience in the public and private sectors. Nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he served as the Deputy Commissioner and Acting Commissioner of Social Security during the Clinton administration, providing leadership to a Cabinet-rank agency comprising one of the largest financial services organizations in the world with 65,000 employees serving more than 50 million beneficiaries. Previously, he was appointed Senior Advisor in the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President, where for six years he presented budget options to the President and coordinated the work of the President's Management Council. Prior to this, he was an Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress and Chief Economist for the United States Senate Committee on Finance which has legislative jurisdiction over taxes, health care, Social Security, and international trade.

Mr. Halter is currently a member of the Board of Directors of four public companies in the life sciences and information technology industries (Akamai Technologies, InterMune, webMethods, and Xenogen). He is a Trustee Emeritus of Stanford University, having served on Stanford's Board of Trustees for seven years and chairing its Committee on Academic Policy. Also at Stanford, he is a member of the Humanities and Sciences Council, the National Advisory Council for Stanford Medical School, and the Advisory Council for Stanford University Libraries. He received an A.B. degree with Honors and Distinction in Economics and Political Science from Stanford University in 1983. After being selected as both a Rhodes Scholar and a Marshall Scholar, he received a Master of Philosophy degree in Economics from Oxford University in 1986.

Dr. Parker has over three decades of distinguished academic and board level experience. He joined Stanford University's Graduate School of Business in 1973 and is currently the Dean Witter Professor of Finance and Management. At Stanford, he has held a series of positions, including Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Director of the MBA Program, Director for Executive Education at the Business School and Director of the Stanford Sloan Program for Executives. In March 2002, the Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty honored him with the Robert T. Davis Award for his extraordinary lifetime contributions to the School.

Dr. Parker is a member of the Board of Directors of Continental Airlines, Inc., California Casualty Group of Insurance Companies, H. Warshow & Sons, Inc., and Converium Reinsurance. He is a past Board member of University National Bank in Palo Alto, California. He graduated from Haverford College, Pennsylvania with a degree in economics in 1960, and received an MBA in finance in 1962 and a Ph.D. in finance in 1967, each from Stanford. He taught at Columbia University and joined a venture capital firm before joining the Stanford faculty in 1973 to teach finance and direct the Sloan Program.

"It's a great privilege to be able to add these two extraordinary individuals to the Threshold board of directors," said Harold E. "Barry" Selick, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Threshold. "They bring a wealth of experience in finance and the management of successful organizations and will be key advisors as Threshold expands its focus from research and clinical development to commercialization."

About Threshold Pharmaceuticals

Threshold Pharmaceuticals (www.thresholdpharm.com) is focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of small molecule therapeutics based on "Metabolic Targeting". This new approach targets abnormal glucose metabolism - a fundamental property of most solid tumors and other diseases. The Company's initial focus is the treatment of cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a disease characterized by overgrowth of the prostate. Metabolic Targeting provides the opportunity to treat not only rapidly dividing tumor cells, but also the slowly dividing tumor cells that generally evade traditional therapies and ultimately contribute to relapse.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding Threshold's development and commercialization plans. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Threshold's ability to enroll and complete its anticipated clinical trials, the time and expense required to conduct such clinical trials, the results of such clinical trials (including unanticipated product side-effects) and Threshold's ability to obtain regulatory approval for its product candidates based on such clinical trials. Further information regarding these and other risks is included under the heading "Risk Factors" in Threshold's registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, which was filed with the Securities Exchange Commission on June 8, 2004 and is available from the SEC's website (www.sec.gov). We disclaim any intention or duty to update any forward-looking statement made in this news release.