Avera Pharmaceuticals Inc. Licenses From Cornell University a Proprietary Surgical Muscle Relaxant and Reversal Agent Compound for the Anesthesia Market.

SAN DIEGO -- Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, announced today that it has licensed two products from Cornell University. Both compounds were developed by a research team led by Dr. John Savarese, Chairman of the Department of Anesthesiology at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

The first, known as AV002, is a novel, intermediate-acting, non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocking compound in late preclinical development. AV002 has undergone extensive animal pharmacological evaluation, demonstrating excellent efficacy with no safety concerns. Administered intravenously in humans, AV002 is expected to produce excellent endotracheal intubating conditions within 60-90 seconds and provide muscle paralysis for approximately 30 minutes.

The second product is a proprietary reversal agent that leverages AV002's unique inactivation process, which normally occurs through binding with a naturally occurring substance. When administered exogenously to animals treated with AV002, the reversal agent has been shown to rapidly and completely reverse neuromuscular blockade. In addition to its effect on AV002, the reversal agent is expected to work with equal efficacy in neutralizing Avera's proprietary, ultrashort-acting, non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocker, gantacurium chloride.

Avera recently completed a successful 230-patient Phase 2 trial with gantacurium chloride for rapid sequence intubation. Taken together, Avera's suite of anesthesia products stands to significantly improve safety for patients undergoing intubation under general anesthesia and to expand the pharmaceutical armamentarium for anesthesiologists.

According to the license agreement, Avera has acquired from Cornell the worldwide rights to the compounds and supporting intellectual property in exchange for undisclosed upfront, milestone and royalty payments. "We are happy to have Avera as our industry partner to develop these Cornell clinical innovations for the benefit of the patients," said Dr. Alan Paau, Vice Provost for Technology Transfer & Economic Development of Cornell University and Executive Director of the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization.

"We are very excited to add these assets to Avera's portfolio. We look forward to developing these novel products that may yield significant advances in the anesthesia marketplace," stated Dinu Sen, Chief Executive Officer of Avera. Added Mr. Sen, "In combination with gantacurium chloride, AV002 and the reversal agent create the opportunity to build a leading company in the area of surgical muscle relaxants. We believe that our products could provide clear safety and efficacy advantages over existing and development-stage products in the field."

Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Avera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (San Diego, CA) is a privately held, specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing novel compounds in the neuroscience therapeutics arena. The Company's strategy is to identify opportunities for therapeutic advances in the treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, and then to in-license, develop and commercialize promising compounds that can meet these needs. The company has three potential products in clinical development that include compounds licensed from Novartis, Eli Lilly and GlaxoSmithKline. Additional information on the Company can be found at www.averapharm.com.