Angiotech Conference Call Scheduled to Discuss Results of Two Cook Incorporated Studies.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 2001

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANPI) (TSE:ANP.) today announced that an analyst conference call will be held to discuss the impressive results of both the 177-patient Asian ASPECT study and the 21-patient pilot in-stent restenosis study released by Cook Incorporated this past week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics Conference in Washington, DC.

Angiotech will hold its conference call on Wednesday, September 19th, 2001 at 8 AM PST (11 AM ET). The call will be webcast on Angiotech's website at www.angiotech.com. A recording of the call will be available until September 26, 2001 by calling [phone] and entering Access Code 19702955.

The ASPECT pivotal clinical trial was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of several doses of paclitaxel-coated stents. Patients in this trial were studied at six months using angiography, analyzed by an independent core angiographic laboratory, to determine the effectiveness of each dosage of paclitaxel in reducing the rate of restenosis in patients undergoing coronary artery angioplasty and stenting. Investigators also assessed safety by determining the trial's rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), adjudicated by an independent clinical events committee.

Paclitaxel-coated stents produced a dramatic inhibition of neointimal hyperplasia, as evidenced by angiography and IVUS evaluations at six months, according to ASPECT study results. The binary restenosis rate was reduced significantly from 27% in patients receiving control, bare metal stents, to 12% in those receiving low dose paclitaxel-coated stents and to only 4% in patients receiving high dose paclitaxel-coated stents - demonstrating an important dose-dependent relationship. Mean diameter stenosis was reduced from 38 percent in the control arm, to 24 percent in the low dose group, and to only 12 percent in patients treated with high dose paclitaxel-coated stents. The paclitaxel-coated stent demonstrated an excellent safety profile, as 96% of patients with conventional antiplatelet therapy were free of MACE at six months in both drug-coated and uncoated stent arms.

Further details of this important study will be discussed by representatives of both Cook and Angiotech during the conference call on September 19th, 2001.

Angiotech Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a Canadian pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development of medical device coatings and treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases through reformulation of the anticancer drug, paclitaxel. Four pharmaceutical therapies are in clinical development: systemic Micellar Paclitaxel for secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (Phase 2), rheumatoid arthritis (Phase 1) and severe psoriasis (Pilot Phase 2), as well as a Topical Paclitaxel Gel for psoriasis (Phase 1). The paclitaxel-coated coronary stent program is currently in human safety and efficacy studies. Other medical device programs include paclitaxel-loaded surgical implants for the treatment of restenosis associated with peripheral vascular surgery and for the treatment of proliferative ocular conditions.

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