Cardiome Announces Completion Of Acquisition Of Paralex, Inc. And Public Offering.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 8, 2002

Cardiome Pharma Corp. (the "Company") announced today that it has completed the acquisition of Paralex, Inc. ("Paralex"), a privately held New York based company. Among other assets, Paralex owns certain intellectual property rights licensed from The Johns Hopkins University relating to cardiovascular applications of xanthine oxidase inhibitors. The Company issued 32,813,584 common shares in exchange for all of the outstanding shares of Paralex.

The Company has also successfully completed a public offering of 37,238,628 Units of the Company at a price of $0.83 per Unit for gross proceeds of $30,908,061 (the "Offering"), which includes 8,171,159 Units issued under an over-allotment option. Sprott Securities Inc. and Raymond James Ltd. acted as agents in connection with the Offering (the "Agents"). Paramount Capital, Inc. of New York assisted in the private placement of the Units in the United States. Each Unit consisted of one common share (a "Cardiome Share") and one-quarter of one common share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each whole Warrant is exercisable into one Cardiome Share at a price of $1.66 per Cardiome Share until March 8, 2004.

"Our goal at Cardiome was to raise a minimum of about $16 million. Not only was this financing oversubscribed, it was accomplished during a difficult period for the biotechnology sector. We are delighted to have such strong endorsement of our strategic plan from the investment community," said Bob Rieder, President and CEO of Cardiome. "With the completion of both the Paralex acquisition and Offering we continue to fulfil the mission we set out nearly a year ago, to become a leading, product-focused cardiovascular company, developing drugs that reduce patient suffering."

Proceeds of the Offering will be used to advance both of Cardiome's clinical drug candidates, RSD1235 and Oxyprim(TM) through clinical trials in order to proceed towards commercialization. By mid-year, the Company expects to conclude patient enrolment for the Phase II clinical trial on the intravenous application of RSD1235 in patients with new onset atrial fibrillation. A Phase II clinical trial on the use of Oxyprim(TM) in improving cardiac performance in patients with congestive heart failure is expected to commence in the second half of 2002. The financing may also allow the Company to accelerate the Phase I oral clinical trial for RSD1235 and accelerate development of Oxyprim(TM). Additional information on these and other programs in development, including Cardiome's Kv1.5 program and RSD1122 program, are described in the Prospectus dated February 28, 2002 and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Company paid to the Agents a cash commission of 7% of the gross proceeds of the Offering and issued Brokers' Compensation Warrants which are exercisable into 3,723,863 Units of the Company, at a price of $0.95 per Unit. The remaining terms of the Units are the same as the Units issued under the Offering.

Conference call

A conference call will be held on Monday March 11, 2002, at 2:00 p.m. (EST), in which Mr. Bob Rieder and Dr. Alan Ezrin of Cardiome will provide guidance on upcoming milestones. Interested parties may access the conference call over the web by connecting through Cardiome's website www.cardiome.com. The conference can also be accessed by phone by dialing 1-800-273-9672 and 416-695-5806. The call can be accessed through the BCE Emergis website at www.enewsservices.com/en/webcast/. For the seven days following the conference call, a telephone replay will be available by dialing [phone] or [phone], passcode 1106187.

About Cardiome Pharma Corp

Cardiome Pharma Corp. is a product-focused cardiac drug discovery and development company. The Company's mission is to prevent and treat heart disease. The Company has four drug programs focused on arrhythmias and congestive heart failure. The congestive heart failure program is ready for Phase II development. RSD1235, intended for the acute treatment of atrial fibrillation, is currently being tested by the Company in a Phase II clinical trial. RSD1122, intended for chronic treatment of atrial and ventricular arrhythmia, is in pre-clinical development with AstraZeneca, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The Company's Kv1.5 antiarrhythmic program, focused on the chronic treatment of atrial fibrillation, is also in the pre-clinical phase at Cardiome. The Company's facilities are on the grounds of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Cardiome is traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (COM) and the NASD OTCBB market (COMTF.OB).

Forward-Looking Statement Disclaimer

Statements contained in this news release relating to future results, events and expectations are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of the Company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, those described in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Toronto Stock Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Robert Rieder
President & Chief Executive Officer