Dallas Biotech Attracts Pharmaceutical Veteran.

DALLAS -- Cumbre Inc., a Dallas-based biopharmaceutical company, announced today that Barry Hafkin M.D. has joined the company as President and CEO. Established in 2001, Cumbre is focused on the discovery and development of antibiotics for the treatment of patients with very severe and chronic infections. The company plans to initiate clinical trials of a first in a novel class of antibiotics in the 2nd quarter of 2006. The novel antibiotic is designed to improve outcomes in patients with infections caused by Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureaus (MRSA). Dr. Hafkin joins Cumbre with years of success in the development and registration of both antibiotic and antiviral compounds in both large pharmaceutical and biotech environments.

"We are excited to have such an experienced leader join the Cumbre team," said Dr. Steve McKnight, a Cumbre founder and board member. "The company continues to position itself well with exciting scientific progress and now has the clinical expertise needed for successful trials."

A graduate of the UT Medical School in San Antonio, Dr. Hafkin specialized in internal medicine, epidemiology and infectious diseases prior to joining the pharmaceutical industry. He served as the clinical program leader for linezolid and therapeutic area head for anti-infective research at the Pharmacia Corporation and the director of both the virology and immunology development groups at Boehringer - Ingelheim. Most recently, he served as Senior VP and Chief Scientific Officer in a Germantown, MD based biotech company.

"I am confident of the very high quality of science, hard work, and accomplishments of the excellent scientific staff at Cumbre. In the near future, we will all be very proud of the clinical development of the first in class compound discovered at Cumbre," said Dr. Hafkin. "Of course - I'm happy to be back in Texas."

"Cumbre has made substantial progress over the past four years," said Bob England, Cumbre's former CEO. "I am honored and pleased that Barry will take on the challenge of developing Cumbre's "homegrown" drug candidate. Attracting investors to fund the future Phase II efficacy trials should be well within the companies reach."