Curis Announces Second Major Collaboration with Genentech.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a therapeutic drug development company, today announced that it has established a second major collaboration with Genentech, Inc. (NYSE: DNA). This new collaboration, in which Curis will work exclusively with Genentech, involves the discovery and development of small molecule modulators of an undisclosed pathway that plays an important role in cell proliferation. This pathway is a key regulator of tissue formation and repair, and its abnormal activation is associated with certain cancers. E[acute accent]Daniel Passeri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curis, said, "We are very pleased to announce another major agreement with our established collaborator, Genentech. We believe this transaction validates the drug development processes that we have put in place at Curis over the last several years. Through a series of proprietary assays, we have been able to rapidly accelerate the identification of drug candidates for core biological disorders, particularly in the fields of regenerative medicine and oncology. This agreement represents a significant investment by a major biotechnology company for these drug discovery processes and our emerging pipeline of drug candidates. It is one more step in our development of a balanced business model that has thus far yielded us a diverse portfolio of drug candidates with multi-staged development structures from which we believe we are better able to manage our product development risk." E[acute accent]Dr. Lee Rubin, Curis' Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, said, "Our expanded and productive collaboration with Genentech revolves around identifying small molecule modulators of pathways that control progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation. We believe that cancer is a disease of progenitor cells and that conventional chemotherapeutics are sometimes ineffective, because they fail to eliminate the mutated progenitor cells that give rise to the tumor. The Hedgehog pathway, together with this new pathway, which now form the basis of our collaborations with Genentech, may be important regulators of tumor progenitor cell proliferation, and thus inhibitors of these pathways may prove to be more effective than conventional treatments for certain cancers. In addition, growing evidence suggests that normal progenitor cells participate in tissue repair and that aging involves a reduction in signaling in the pathways that control these progenitor cells. We believe that small molecule stimulators of these pathways may be used to promote tissue repair and regeneration. We are very pleased to be broadening our relationship with Genentech, and we view this new collaboration as a significant endorsement of Curis' drug development approach."

E[acute accent]About the new Genentech/Curis Collaboration

E[acute accent]Under the terms of the new agreement, Genentech has committed to pay Curis an up-front license fee of $3 million and up to an additional $6 million over the next two years to support research at Curis dedicated to the collaboration. The agreement also provides for Genentech to make cash payments to Curis contingent upon the successful achievement of certain developmental, clinical, and drug approval milestones. Genentech will also pay a royalty on net product sales if product candidates derived from the collaboration are successfully developed. The total potential cash payments to Curis from the transaction could exceed $140 million (if two products are commercialized in two indications each), excluding royalties on potential net product sales. In addition, Curis reserves the right to use small molecule modulators of the pathway that are discovered as result of the collaboration for ex vivo cell therapy purposes in areas outside of oncology and hematopoiesis.

E[acute accent]About Curis, Inc.

E[acute accent]Curis, Inc. is a therapeutic drug development company. The Company's technology focus is on regulatory pathways that control repair and regeneration. Curis' product development involves the use of proteins or small molecules to modulate these pathways. Curis has successfully used this technology and product development approach to produce several promising drug product candidates in the fields of cancer (under collaboration with Genentech, which also includes a co-development agreement between Curis and Genentech for a basal cell carcinoma product candidate), kidney disease (licensed to Ortho Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), neurological disorders (in collaboration with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals), hair growth, and cardiovascular disease. For more information, please visit the Curis web site at www.curis.com.

E[acute accent]This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Curis' business strategy and its drug discovery and development programs. Such statements may contain the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "seeks", "estimates" or similar expressions. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause Curis' actual results to be materially different from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Actual results can be affected by a number of important factors including, among other things: adverse results in Curis' and its strategic collaborators' product development programs; difficulties or delays in obtaining or maintaining required regulatory approvals; Curis' ability to obtain or maintain the patent and other proprietary intellectual property protection necessary for the development and commercialization of products based on its technologies; changes in or Curis' inability to execute its realigned business strategy; the risk that Curis does not obtain the additional funding required to conduct research and development of its product candidates and execute on its business plan; unplanned cash requirements and expenditures; risks relating to Curis' ability to enter into and maintain important strategic partnerships, including its ability to maintain its current collaboration agreements with Genentech, Ortho Biotech Products and Wyeth; the risk that competitors will discover and develop signaling pathway-based therapeutics faster and more successfully than Curis and its collaborators are able to; and other risk factors identified in Curis' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and any subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent Curis' views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Curis disclaims any intention or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.