Celsion Obtains Option for Duke's Heat-Targeted Gene Therapy; Duke First To Demonstrate Focused Heat Can Activate Anti-Angiogenesis Therapy.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2000

Celsion Corporation (AMEX: CLN), a Russell 3000 company headquartered in Columbia, MD, said today it has completed an option agreement with Duke University for the rights to technology that uses focused heat to enable scientists to target and selectively "turn on" gene therapy. This has broad generic potential applications most significantly to cancer.

As reported in the July 1 issue of Cancer Research, Duke has already become the first to demonstrate how focused heat can be used to activate gene therapy in animals. In that article, Duke reported on experiments that used heat to increase the production of Interleukin-12 (IL-12) by a factor of 300 without systemic toxicity. IL-12 is a multifunctional cytokine (secreted protein messenger) that has "anti-angiogeneic" and immunostimulatory activitity. Heat triggered IL-12 treatment delayed tumor growth and reduced the formation of new blood vessels.

According to Dr. Mark Dewhirst, Director of the Hyperthermia Program at Duke University Medical Center, "Despite all the progress that has been made in unlocking the genetic code, gene therapy technology is still at its earliest stages. Among the challenges for gene therapy of cancer is the need to control the expression of therapeutic genes in appropriate tissues at specified times. Both Duke and Celsion believe that focused heat may be a very efficient means to accomplish these goals simultaneously."

According to Dr. Augustine Y. Cheung, CLN's Chairman, "The Duke study tells us we have a technology that is very powerful indeed, at least in animals, and it encourages us to move forward. The next step is for the two parties to conclude a second formal licensing agreement."

The option agreement announced today expands the relationship between Duke and Celsion, which announced on November 15, 1999 their first exclusive license agreement for the use of heat-sensitive liposomes in the targeted delivery of drugs. The initial goal of the program is to develop and commercialize a new generation of targeted "site specific" cancer drugs that would be many times more powerful than current treatments.

Dr. Cheung pointed out that Celsion also has an agreement with Sloan Kettering, announced on May 23, 2000, for the commercial rights to a heat-activated gene therapy technology for treating cancers. "We think that Dr. Gloria C. Li, Head of Radiation and Hyperthermia Biology Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and her associates will be able to make important use of the work that is coming out of Duke. We are most pleased to have these two great institutions working on gene therapy with Celsion to provide a new generation of cancer treatments."

About Celsion: Celsion Corporation is a research and development company dedicated to commercializing medical treatment systems for cancer and other diseases using focused heat technology delivered by patented microwave technology. Celsion has research, license or commercialization agreements with leading institutions such as Duke University Medical Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harbor UCLA Medical Center, the University of California at San Francisco, the Center for Breast Surgery at Columbia Hospital in Florida, Montefiore Medical Center, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Duke University.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, unforeseen changes in the course of research and development activities and in clinical trials; possible changes in cost and timing of development and testing, capital structure, and other financial items; changes in approaches to medical treatment; introduction of new products by others; possible acquisitions of other technologies, assets or businesses; possible actions by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulatory authorities; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.