ChemoCentryx Announces Key Senior Management Team Additions; Susan M. Kanaya Appointed Chief Financial Officer.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- ChemoCentryx, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing orally-administered therapeutics that target the chemokine system, today announced the appointment of Susan M. Kanaya to the post of Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity, Ms. Kanaya will oversee financial and accounting operations as well as investor relations. The company also announced the recent appointment of Petrus (Pirow) J. Bekker M.D., Ph.D., to the position of Vice President, Medical and Clinical Affairs and the establishment of ChemoCentryx's clinical development and regulatory affairs department. Both Ms. Kanaya and Dr. Bekker report directly to Thomas Schall, Ph.D., ChemoCentryx's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"I am delighted to welcome these highly qualified executives to the ChemoCentryx team. Their experience and expertise will be invaluable in advancing our multiple products through clinical development - including Traficet-EN(R) which is poised to enter its next stage of clinical trials," said Dr. Schall.

Ms. Kanaya joins ChemoCentryx from publicly-traded Kosan Biosciences where she served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. There she was responsible for all financial and accounting operations, investor and public relations, information technology and other corporate-related matters. Among her accomplishments at Kosan Ms. Kanaya was instrumental in securing more than $165 million in equity and debt financing, including an $80 million initial public offering. Prior to joining Kosan in 1999 Ms. Kanaya was at SUGEN, Inc. (acquired by Pharmacia, and in turn Pfizer) since 1994, most recently as Vice President, Finance. Prior to SUGEN Ms. Kanaya served as a controller with two high technology companies and as a Supervising Senior at KPMG. Ms. Kanaya is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley.

Dr. Bekker brings more than fifteen years of clinical development expertise and joins ChemoCentryx from Amgen, where he most recently served as Senior Director of Global Safety, overseeing all aspects of product safety worldwide. Prior to this role, Dr. Bekker spent several years as Senior Director of Clinical Development and Director of Clinical Development at Amgen, where he was responsible for programs in inflammation, bone metabolism and neurology programs at all stages of product development ranging from preclinical to post-marketing. While at Amgen, Dr. Bekker led the development and facilitated the approvals of several Amgen products, including Embrel(R) and Kineret(R) and contributed to the evaluation of in-licensing candidates for the company. Previous to his time at Amgen, Dr. Bekker spent nearly seven years at Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals where he played a key role in the clinical development of the osteoporosis drug Actonel(R). Dr. Bekker received his medical training in his native South Africa, and his Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

About ChemoCentryx

ChemoCentryx, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing orally-administered therapeutics that target the chemokine system to treat autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders and cancer. The chemokine system is a complex network of chemokine molecules, or ligands, and receptors that regulates inflammation. ChemoCentryx has internally generated more than six clinical- and preclinical-stage programs, each targeting distinct chemokine receptors with different small molecule compounds. The company's compounds are designed to be highly potent with minimal side effects and orally available for improved patient compliance, as well as ease and efficiency of manufacture. ChemoCentryx's lead compound, Traficet-EN(R), is currently in Phase II clinical development for the treatment of patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease.

Any statements in this press release about ChemoCentryx's expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not historical facts and are forward-looking statements. These statements are often, but not always, made through the use of words or phrases such as "believe," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "plan," and "would." Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of performance. They involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement. Some of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from estimates or projections contained in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to (i) the timing, success and cost of preclinical research and clinical studies, (ii) the timing, acceptability and review periods for regulatory filings, (iii) the availability of corporate partners, (iv) uncertainties relating to patent protection and intellectual property rights of third parties, (v) the impact of competitive products and technological changes, (vi) the availability of capital and the cost of capital, (vii) other vagaries in the biotechnology industry and (viii) other risks. ChemoCentryx undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements.