Cyternex Appoints William G. Rice, Ph.D., as President and CEO and Announces Company Name Change to Cylene Pharmaceuticals

New President and CEO Presents at BIO Venture Forum West 2003

SAN DIEGO, CA - October 15, 2003

Cyternex, Inc., an oncology drug discovery and development company, today announced it has appointed William G. Rice, Ph.D., as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, and changed its name to Cylene Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Rice announced the company’s new name and positioning today at BIO Venture Forum West 2003 in San Francisco.

“Our new identity better reflects our pharmaceutical product focus, and what has developed into a major drug discovery platform in gene silencing,” said Tom Farrell, Cylene founder and Chief Operating Officer. “The name Cylene is both a reference to Cyllenius, the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, and a hybrid of the words ‘gene’ and ‘silent’.”

Prior to joining Cylene, Dr. Rice was the founder, President, CEO and Director of Achillion Pharmaceuticals. Under his leadership, Achillion recruited a top senior management team, rapidly advanced a product candidate through clinical trials, built highly productive discovery and clinical development programs, and raised over $65 million. Prior to Achillion, Dr. Rice was Senior Scientist and Head of the Drug Mechanism Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute-Frederick Research Center.

“Cylene represents a tremendous opportunity for me to leverage my experience to build a premier biotech company around a core of exceptional people and technologies,” commented Dr. Rice. “Cylene has discovered the first true small molecule approach to therapeutic gene silencing, and is poised to advance several products into the clinic over the next few years. The applications of the technology will represent a major step forward in oncology.”

“We are delighted to have recruited a CEO of Dr. Rice’s caliber,” said Fred Middleton of Sanderling Ventures, a Cylene investor and Board Member. “It’s an indication of the tremendous potential of the company’s pipeline and platform. Under Dr. Rice’s leadership, we expect the company to move rapidly into clinical development and to have a major impact upon the field of oncology.”

Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (formerly Cyternex, Inc.) is a privately-held pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class small molecule drugs to treat life-threatening diseases, with a particular emphasis in the oncology arena. Cylene’s pipeline is led by the CX-1322 series, currently in preclinical development for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Additional molecules in the pipeline are drawn from the company’s proprietary platform, which directs small molecules at molecular targets that regulate the expression of key oncogenes and other disease-related proliferation genes. The company is establishing its leadership position in small molecule directed gene silencing by commercializing the pioneering work of two Cylene founders, Professors Laurence Hurley and Daniel Von Hoff.