Locus Pharmaceuticals Initiates Strategic Inflammatory Cancer Research Collaborations

Business Wire, May 30, 2008

BLUE BELL, Pa. -- Locus Pharmaceuticals announced today that it has entered into significant research collaborations with The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio and with the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (MDACC). These new collaborations center on the Locus p38 inhibitor portfolio of drug development candidates, and will build upon an existing research relationship with CTRC which focuses on LP-261, Locus' lead clinical candidate in Phase 1. The p38 portfolio is comprised of highly selective allosteric inhibitors of p38 alpha and beta isozymes and LP-590, a multikinase inhibitor of p38, Tie-2, and Ret kinases. Both programs are in late preclinical development for the treatment of cancers characterized by angiogenesis and inflammation.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to work with Locus on their drug development candidates," said Francis Giles, M.D., Director of the CTRC's Institute for Drug Development. "Locus has a unique pipeline of novel medicines for treating cancers associated with angiogenesis and inflammation," he added. Among those cancers that have significant components of both inflammation and angiogenesis are multiple myeloma, ovarian cancer, and certain types of breast cancer. "We have a great need for agents such as those in the Locus pipeline which target cancer-associated inflammation and angiogenesis, especially via both the p38 and Tie-2 pathways," Dr. Giles said.

Dr. Tyler Curiel, the Executive Director of CTRC, is a leader in the p38 field and also a specialist in ovarian cancer. According to Dr. Curiel, "The mechanisms of Locus drug candidates are a very good fit for our research interests at CTRC. We hope to apply our very broad therapeutic developmental capabilities to help advance these promising agents."

Recently, Locus also established a research collaboration agreement with investigators at The Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Research Program and Clinic at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. This research agreement will involve the work of research team leaders specializing in this aggressive and often lethal form of breast cancer to demonstrate the potential value of LP-590 in the treatment of Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC). According to team leaders, Drs. Massimo Cristofanilli, Co-Director of the Morgan Welch Inflammatory Breast Cancer Clinic and Fredika Robertson, Professor in Experimental Therapeutics, "Inflammatory breast cancer is a very aggressive type of breast cancer that can be resistant to standard therapies. LP-590, in particular, is of great interest to us because of the potential importance of both p38 and Tie-2 in this variant of breast cancer. We hope that this collaboration will bring the possibility to improve treatment for this deadly type of breast cancer."

"The CTRC and M. D. Anderson are world-renowned cancer research centers with well-respected investigators and we are very excited to begin these key research collaborations soon," said Jamie Freedman, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Locus. "We anticipate that the preclinical studies will assist us in identifying patient populations most likely to benefit from our drugs," added Dr. Freedman.

About Locus Pharmaceuticals

Locus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a world leader in computational drug design. Locus has effectively integrated its proprietary computational approaches with in-house expertise in chemistry, biology and crystallography to create a competitive preclinical drug development platform.

Locus is using its capabilities to develop its own compounds and has also entered into various drug design/development collaborations with pharmaceutical partners, including Ono. All of the Company's internal development programs emanate from its computational technology and are focused on oral drug therapies, principally in cancer and inflammation. Locus' lead oral oncology compound, LP-261 is in a late Phase I study. Locus created uniquely selective, first-in-class p38 inhibitors that bind to an allosteric binding site rather than the ATP site, which may offer advantages over ATP-site inhibitors. The p38 inhibitors are being developed for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. Locus has identified an orally active multi-kinase inhibitor, LP-590, targeting p38, Tie-2, and Ret for treatment of cancer. The p38-selective inhibitor and LP-590 are undergoing IND-enabling studies for clinical development. Locus is also working on earlier stage projects targeting Heat Shock Protein 90 which is being conducted in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), an EPO antagonist program in collaboration with the National Institute of Health (NIH) and an oral gp41 program for AIDS/HIV.

Locus is a privately-held company. Visit www.locuspharma.com for more information.

About The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

The Cancer Therapy & Research Center (CTRC) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is among the nation's leading academic research and treatment centers, serving more than 4.4 million people in the high-growth corridor of Central and South Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley. CTRC is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Designated Cancer Center, and is one of only three in Texas. CTRC handles more than 120,000 patient visits each year and is a world leader in developing new drugs to treat cancer. The CTRC Institute for Drug Development (IDD) is internationally recognized for conducting the largest oncology Phase I clinical drug trials program in the world, and has participated in the clinical and/or preclinical development of many of the cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. For more information, visit www.ctrc.uthscsa.edu.