Cyternex Raises $3.5 Million in Series A Financing; Company Names New Directors of Chemistry and Drug Evaluation.

Business Editors and Health/Medical Writers

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SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 17, 2001

Cyternex, Inc. today announced the completion of a Series A private round of financing, raising a total of $3.55 million for the company. The round included four investor groups: Sanderling Ventures; Novartis BioVentures; RCT BioVentures West; and IngleWood Ventures, which led the round. Cyternex, a San Diego-based biotechnology company developing novel gene-targeting anticancer agents, also announced the addition of two key management personnel, Jeffrey P. Whitten, Ph.D. and Cheng He Jin, M.D., Ph.D., to lead the company's medicinal chemistry and drug evaluation programs, according to Tom Farrell, President and CEO of Cyternex.

"The funds raised in this private round will enable us to develop optimal lead compounds for clinical evaluation," Farrell said. "With this new funding and the addition of Dr. Whitten and Dr. Jin, we are well-positioned to further our two clinical programs, including our lead series of compounds to regulate expression of c-myc, a well-known cancer gene."

Over-expression of the c-myc gene is seen in 60 percent of all cancers, including prostate, breast, melanoma, colorectal, pancreatic, Burkitt's and non-Burkitt's lymphoma, and myeloid leukemia. Cyternex's compounds appear to block tumor growth by stabilizing four-dimensional "knots" in the cancer DNA, called G-quadruplexes, and thus preventing expression of c-myc.

"We are very excited about the potential for Cyternex's technology," said Fred Middleton of Sanderling Ventures, who recently joined Cyternex's Board of Directors. "Cyternex's scientific founders have developed a proprietary chemical mechanism for interacting with a cell's DNA that holds significant promise in developing useful new therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. We are pleased to participate in the Company's start-up venture financing round and look forward to working with Company founders and management to continue to build a successful therapeutics venture."

Jeffrey P. Whitten, Ph.D., has joined the Company as Director of Chemistry. Dr. Whitten brings over 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical arenas to Cyternex, including the development of eight clinical candidates at companies such as Glaxo, Sandoz, Aventis, SIBIA Neurosciences and Neurocrine Biosciences.

Cheng He Jin, M.D., Ph.D., has joined Cyternex as Director of Drug Evaluation. Dr. Jin previously served as Lead Scientist at Xencor and Senior Research Scientist at Ligand Pharmaceuticals, where he led teams in developing assays for drug discovery and identifying new gene targets for drug development.

Cyternex is a privately held biotechnology company developing novel small molecule anticancer agents for patients with advanced disease. Founded in 1998, Cyternex is investigating the role of 3-D DNA structures in the regulation of known cancer genes and other aspects of tumor biology. By targeting these unique structures, Cyternex is developing drug candidates to regulate oncogene expression. Cyternex's initial product portfolio is based on research conducted by Dr. Laurence Hurley at The University of Texas at Austin. Cyternex has commercial rights to one issued U.S. patent and has several U.S. and foreign patents pending. For additional company background visit the Cyternex, Inc. website at www.cyternex.com.