Cylene Pharmaceuticals Promotes John K.C. Lim, Pharm.D. and David M. Ryckman, Ph.D. to Senior Vice Presidents

SAN DIEGO, CA - January 01, 2009

Cylene Pharmaceuticals announces the promotions of John K.C. Lim, Pharm. D. to Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs and David M. Ryckman, Ph.D. to Senior Vice President of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Operations.

"I am pleased to announce these two well-deserved promotions," said Dr. William G. Rice, Cylene’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Both John and Dave have added tremendous value to the company and have enabled Cylene to achieve the important milestones of having multiple compounds in the clinic and becoming a Phase II development stage company."

Dr. Lim brings more than 20 years of experience in managing clinical and regulatory activities for organizations in the biotechnology and CRO industries. As Senior Vice President of Clinical and Regulatory Affairs, Dr. Lim is responsible for the oversight of Cylene’s clinical trials, both domestic and international, and of Cylene’s regulatory affairs. Under Dr. Lim’s leadership in the clinical department, Cylene has advanced its lead compound, quarfloxin (CX-3543) through completion of two Phase I trials and into a Phase II trial in patients with carcinoid/neuroendocrine tumors (CNET). Dr. Lim also oversaw the initiation of Phase I studies of Cylene’s oral CK2 kinase inhibitor, CX-4945.

Dr. David Ryckman also has over 20 years of experience in years of experience in developing formulation and process chemistries. A synthetic organic chemist by training, Dr. Ryckman leads Cylene’s scale-up and manufacturing operations as well as heads up Cylene’s discovery chemistry efforts. Since Dr. Ryckman joined Cylene in early 2007, he has successfully scaled-up and streamlined the manufacturing and formulation processes for multiple compounds to optimize their use in clinical and pre-clinical studies. Dr. Ryckman has also guided Cylene’s research chemistry efforts to create several new programs and drug candidates in a very abbreviated period of time.

About Cylene Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cylene Pharmaceuticals is a biotech pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of targeted small-molecule drugs to treat life-threatening cancers. Cylene has created a diverse portfolio of product candidates, including novel inhibitors of cancer-linked serine/threonine protein kinases, as well as innovative nucleolus targeting agents (NTAs) that target the abnormal nucleolar functions of cancer cells and selectively kill cancer cells. More information can be found at www.cylenepharma.com.