Acusphere Announces Results from First Human Clinical Study of Asthma Drug Candidate, AI-SR; AI-SR Demonstrates Sustained Release of Inhaled Asthma Drug.

Business Editors/Medical Writers

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UBS Warburg Global Life Sciences Conference

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSIENSS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 2002

Acusphere, Inc. announced results from its Phase I clinical study of its asthma drug candidate, AI-SR. This study, which was conducted in Europe, demonstrated sustained release of the drug relative to the commercially available inhaled formulation. AI-SR is Acusphere's novel, dry powder sustained release, microparticle formulation of a leading asthma drug. It is designed to slowly release the asthma drug locally in the lungs and thereby reduce the multi-dosing daily regimen to a once per day treatment. Pharmacokinetic analysis from the study demonstrated sustained levels of the drug in the blood over at least 12 hours.

President and CEO, Sherri C. Oberg, will discuss these results and other company highlights at the UBS Warburg Global Life Sciences Conference on Monday, October 7th at 1:30 p.m. at The Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York City, New York.

"We believe these clinical results demonstrate the potential of AI-SR as a sustained release drug for treating asthma. This trial represents an important milestone, demonstrating yet another application of our versatile technology," commented Sherri C. Oberg, President and CEO. "Beyond AI-SR and the treatment of asthma, our pulmonary program has promising applications. We believe that our microparticle technology has broad potential for the treatment of other respiratory diseases through local drug delivery and for the treatment of non-respiratory diseases, utilizing the lungs for the systemic delivery of drugs and proteins."

Many inhaled asthma drugs have to be taken by the patient multiple times each day, which reduces patient convenience and compliance, leading to decreased product effectiveness. Asthma, a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, affects an estimated 14.9 million people in the United States and the prevalence of asthma has increased by 60 percent since the early 1980's.

Acusphere's novel microparticle technology allows for the production of microparticles in sizes and porosities appropriate for delivery to the upper airways, and that slowly break down in the body providing for the sustained release of a drug. Data from this clinical study demonstrated that more than 70 percent of the inhaled drug was deposited in the upper airways, and that there was a four-fold increase in the mean absorption time of the drug from the lungs into the bloodstream relative to the commercially available inhaled formulation. AI-SR was well tolerated by the healthy volunteers.

About Acusphere, Inc.

Acusphere is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company that develops new drugs and improved formulations of existing drugs using its proprietary porous microparticle technology. This technology allows the size and porosity of microparticles to be engineered, resulting in versatile drug delivery systems for all routes of administration. This porous microparticle technology is broadly applicable as a pulmonary drug delivery system, as a hydrophobic drug delivery system (HDDS(TM)) and as an intravenous gas delivery system for ultrasound contrast. Acusphere has three porous microparticle product candidates in clinical development: AI-SR, an inhaled sustained release asthma formulation; AI-850, an improved formulation of the cancer drug paclitaxel; and AI-700, an ultrasound contrast agent for the detection of coronary artery disease. AI-SR and AI-850 each entered Phase I clinical trials in May 2002. AI-700 has completed Phase II clinical trials in the U.S. Acusphere has focused on therapeutic areas where its drug delivery technology has the potential to provide significant clinical benefits. The company is financed by a leading group of venture capital investors including Polaris Venture Partners, Thomas Weisel Capital Partners and BA Venture Partners. For more information about Acusphere visit the company's Web Site at http://www.acusphere.com.