Adherex Technologies Reports Second Quarter Results.

Business Editors

OTTAWA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2003

Adherex Technologies Inc. (TSX:AHX), an Ottawa-based cancer therapeutics company with a broad portfolio of products under development, today reported its second quarter and six-month results for the period ending December 31, 2002.

Corporate Update

Following the Company's AGM in November, Mark C. Rogers, MD, MBA, was appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Rogers is a physician trained in four medical specialties. He was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, is the author of 150 publications and 11 books and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Dr. Rogers has been involved in a number of companies and has played a key role in helping to finance a number of biotech companies.

Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Company announced the appointment of William P. Peters, MD, PhD, MBA as CEO and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Peters is a world renowned oncologist who served on the faculty at Harvard University, Duke University and Wayne State University. He originated the solid tumor high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant program at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and was Director of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Associate Director of the Cancer Center and Professor of Medicine at Duke University from 1984-1995. He then became President, Director and CEO of the Karmanos Cancer Institute from 1995 - 2001 and is currently President Emeritus. Dr. Peters replaces John Brooks who will remain as a member of the Company's Board of Directors.

Also recently elected to the Adherex Board of Directors was Emil Frei III, MD, Physician-in-Chief Emeritus for Harvard Medical School. Dr. Frei is a leading oncologist in the development of chemotherapy treatments for cancer. He pioneered the combination therapy approach to cancer and developed the world's first treatment leading to a complete cure for leukemia. Dr. Frei is on the editorial board of the New England Journal of Medicine and Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Adherex is on the cusp of realizing the vision of becoming a global cancer company," said Mark Rogers, Chairman of Adherex. "This past quarter, we have made tremendous progress by developing exciting product opportunities, strengthening our Board and management team with leaders in oncology, and vigorously pursuing options for raising capital. We believe the key elements necessary to implementing our vision are close at hand, and we are enthusiastic about our future growth prospects."

"This has been a quarter of profound change and transformation at Adherex," said Robin Norris, M.D., President and COO of the Company. "We successfully completed the transition from lab to clinic with EXHERIN(TM), our potentially ground-breaking therapy that selectively targets tumor blood supply leading to cancer cell death. We presented additional pre-clinical data at the American Society for Cell Biology in San Francisco in December and then quickly moved into our Phase I trial, which continues today. We also obtained shareholder approval for our merger with Oxiquant, which resulted in a greatly expanded anti-cancer pipeline, with the addition of three new clinical stage products. And we have made significant changes to both the board and management team, adding a wealth of drug development, business development and cancer expertise to the Company."

In addition to EXHERIN(TM), the other three Adherex drug candidates in clinical development as a result of the acquisition of Oxiquant, Inc. include Sodium Thiosulfate (STS), a chemoprotectant which prevents the disabling loss of hearing particularly common in children treated with the widely used platinum-based anticancer agents; Mesna, a compound that has been shown to display anticancer activity in situations where most established anticancer agents perform poorly; and N-Acetylcysteine (NAC), a chemoprotectant being studied for the prevention of bone marrow suppression resultant from chemotherapy regimens.

Financial Update

The net loss for the quarter ended December 31, 2002 was $1,686,401 or ($0.03) per share, compared to a loss of $856,162 or ($0.02) for the quarter ended December 31, 2001. The net loss for the six months ended December 31, 2002 amounted to $3,456,621 or ($0.07) per share, an increase of 56% over the loss of $2,219,695 reported for the six months ended December 31, 2001. Research and development expenses increased to a total of $2,618,885 for the six months ended December 31, 2002, an increase of 37% over the same period last year, due to the commencement of the EXHERIN(TM) clinical program. Amortization expense of $350,000 was recorded for the acquired intellectual property rights purchased from Oxiquant, Inc. This expense was offset by a $128,000 recovery of future income taxes.

Cash, cash equivalents and cash pledged as collateral amounted to $4,212,298 as at December 31, 2002 compared to $8,754,845 as at June 30, 2002, the Company's last fiscal year end. Investment in the EXHERIN(TM) clinical program and transaction and corporate reorganization costs related to the acquisition of Oxiquant, Inc. substantially increased the Company's spending in this period.

The complete financial results for the second quarter and the six months ending December 31, 2002 are available on the Company's website.

About Adherex Technologies

Adherex Technologies is an Ottawa-based pharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of products under development for use in the treatment of cancer. Four product candidates are currently in clinical development. For more information, please visit Adherex's Web site at www.adherex.com.

A conference call entitled "Adherex 2nd Quarter Results" will be held at 11:30 a.m. EST on Friday, February 28, 2003. Interested parties wishing to participate in this call should dial 1-877-888-7019. You will be asked to provide the title of the call, and the name of the chairperson of the call (Dr. Robin Norris). If you are unable to participate in the conference call, a recording will be available for playback for two weeks. To access the recording please dial 1-866-518-1010. The conference call will also be available on the Adherex Technologies Inc. website.

This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

Certain information contained in this news release is forward-looking and is subject to unknown risks and uncertainties. The actual results, performance or achievements of the company may differ materially from the results, performance or achievements of the company expressed or implied by such forward looking statements.