Cytran Signs Agreement With ALZA for U.S. and Canada.

SEATTLE--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 16, 1999--

Cytran, Inc. announced today it has entered into an agreement with ALZA Corporation of Palo Alto, California, granting ALZA Corporation marketing rights in the USA and Canada to Cytran's anti-cancer drug IM862.

Under the agreement, subject to certain regulatory filings and approvals, milestone payments become payable to Cytran. No further details of the agreement are being disclosed.

"This is the first of a series of corporate partnerships that we are establishing with major pharmaceutical companies for the worldwide sale, distribution and further development of IM862 and the company's other peptides," said Dennis C. Fill, Cytran Chairman and CEO. "We believe partnering arrangements of this kind will accelerate market penetration of IM862 at the appropriate time while allowing the company to focus on development and manufacturing of our small peptide technology in oncology, infectious diseases and other areas."

Cytran is raising up to $20 million in convertible debenture financing as a final round of private funding. ALZA Corporation has purchased $5 million of such convertible debentures and warrants within that offering. The funds will be used to complete clinical trials in KS and other cancers, for manufacturing scale-up of IM862 and for research and development of the Company's other peptides.

Promising results of a Phase I/II clinical trial using IM862 in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in May. The trial findings demonstrated that over one-third of KS patients in the trial showed a major response -- either complete resolution of the KS lesions or reduction by over 50% in tumor size. Patients self-administered the drug as a nose drop and experienced minimal side effects.

IM862 is a small peptide comprised of two amino acids and has been shown in preclinical studies to stop progression of, and, in some cases reduce or eliminate malignant tumors, through preventing the development of new blood vessels necessary for tumor growth and modulation of immune system response. Cytran is currently conducting a pivotal Phase III clinical trial in Kaposi's sarcoma (KS), and Phase II trials in both ovarian cancer and metastatic melanoma. A Phase II trial in prostate cancer is scheduled to begin later in August.

Cytran, Inc. based in Kirkland, Washington, is a privately held biopharmaceutical company, developing and commercializing small peptide compounds for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.