EpiGenX Rounds Out Scientific Advisory Board with Nobel Laureate; Dr. Yuan-Tseh Lee Joins Fellow Scientists on Biotechnology Company Advisory Board.

Business Editors/Pharmaceutical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--May 7, 2001

EpiGenX Pharmaceuticals Inc., announced today that Dr. Yuan-Tseh Lee has joined a distinguished advisory board which has been assembled to guide the Company in the development of epigenetic-based diagnostics and therapies for cancer and infectious disease. The Scientific Advisory Board, composed of leading scientists in the biotechnology and academic community, will be instrumental in accelerating the development and commercialization of the company's technologies.

Dr. Yuan-Tseh Lee joins an elite group including Michael T. Bowers, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Thomas C. Bruice, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry from University of California, Santa Barbara; Joseph F. Costello, Ph.D., on the faculty of University of California, San Francisco, Department of Neurological Surgery; Melvin Louis DePamphilis, Ph.D., Section Chief for the Eukaryotic DNA Replication and Gene Expression unit of the Molecular Growth Laboratory at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; as well as Jeffrey L. Ebersole, Ph.D., Professor of Oral Health Research and Director, Center for Oral Health Research, from University of Kentucky, College of Dentistry and Arthur D. Riggs, Ph.D., Associate Director of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope National Medical Center.

EpiGenX's Scientific Advisory Board now features expertise covering cancer biology, infectious disease, bioorganic chemistry and mass spectrometry technologies. Epigenetic strategies entail developing the advanced understanding of gene regulation, and its manipulation in order to fight disease, particularly cancer and infections.

"We are extremely honored to have Dr. Lee join our advisory board," commented Larry Bymaster, President and Chief Executive Officer, EpiGenX. "He has unparalleled expertise in molecular beam technology and we are pleased that he has agreed to provide counsel to our team of scientists."

"Dr. Lee is universally recognized as a world leader in design and use of customized state-of-the-art instrumentation for chemical analysis," noted Alec Wodke, Director of Epigenomics, EpiGenX. "We look forward to his guidance in defining the technology directions for our High Throughput Epigenetic applications."

EpiGenX Scientific Advisory Board is now composed of:

Michael T. Bowers, Ph.D., a Professor of Chemistry at UCSB, and

one of the world's leading scientists in the field of mass

spectrometry has served for over 10 years as, Editor,

International Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Ion Processes and

serves as Associate Editor Journal of the American Chemical

Society. Dr. Bowers his Ph.D. in 1966 from the University of

Illinois. His Awards include: Nobel Laureate Signature Award of

the American Chemical Society (1988); American Chemical Society

Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry (1996);

Guggenheim Fellowship (1994); and UCSB Faculty Research Lecturer

(1994). He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and of

the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Thomas C. Bruice, Ph.D., a Professor of Chemistry and

Biochemistry at UCSB, was listed among the world's 50 most cited

chemists for the period from 1984 to 1991. He has been elected a

Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1974), a Fellow of

the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the

AAAS (1989) as well as the Royal Society of Chemistry. His awards

include: NIH Career Development (1979); Lifetime Investigator and

MERIT Awards; Guggenheim Fellow (1979); UCSB Faculty Research

Award (1970); American Chemical Society Arthur C. Cope Scholar

Award (1987), Richard C. Tolman Medal (1979), Repligan Medal in

Biochemistry (1987), Alfred Bader Medal in Bioorganic and

Bioinorganic Chemistry (1988), and the James Flack Norris Award

(1996) in physical organic chemistry.

Joseph F. Costello, Ph.D., serves on the faculty at University of

California, San Francisco, Department of Neurological Surgery,

and is a leading expert in the field of methylation, including

identifying non-random and tumor-specific methylation patterns in

human malignancies. His awards include the James S. McDonnell

Foundation 21st Century Scientist Award. Dr Costello is a member

of the Brain Tumor Research Center at UCSF and has had his work

featured in editorials published in Nature Genetics, Science, The

Scientist and Wired Magazine. He serves as an ad hoc reviewer for

Nature Genetics, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science,

Cancer Research, and Genes Chromosomes & Cancer.

Melvin Louis DePamphilis, Ph.D., is the Section Chief for the

Eukaryotic DNA Replication and Gene Expression unit of the

Molecular Growth Laboratory at the National Institute of Child

Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD. He previously served

as a Laboratory Head and Full Member of the Roche Institute of

Molecular Biology, an Adjunct Professor in the Department of

Biological Sciences at Columbia University, and a Professor in

the Department of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. DePamphilis is one of the country's leading experts in the

initiation of DNA replication in mammalian chromosomes; gene

expression at the beginning of mammalian development. He

currently serves on the editorial board of the following

journals: Molecular Reproduction and Development, Molecular

Biology Reports, Gene Therapy & Molecular Biology, Cell Structure

and Function and Molecular and Cellular Biology.

Jeffrey L. Ebersole, Ph.D., is Professor of Oral Health Research

and Director, Center for Oral Health Research, at University of

Kentucky, College of Dentistry. Earlier in his career, he was

Professor of Periodontics and Microbiology at The University of

Texas Health Center and, in the mid-1980's, Associate Clinical

Professor of Oral Biology and Pathophysiology at the Harvard

School of Dental Medicine. Dr. Ebersole's research area is B cell

biology and antibodies in secretory immunity and periodontal

immunobiology. He has had NIH funding for over 25 years. His

primary research emphasis is in the development, specificity and

functional abilities of antibodies in the oral cavity.

Yuan-Tseh Lee, Ph.D., a Nobel laureate in chemistry in 1986, is

the current President of Academia Sinica, the highest research

institute in Taiwan. In 1986, Lee shared the Nobel Prize in

Chemistry with Dudley R. Herschbach and John C. Polanyi for

helping to apply the technology and theory of physics to

chemistry. In his research, Lee extended Herschbach's "crossed

molecular beam technique" to analyze larger and more complex

molecules. Dr. Lee received his doctorate from the University of

California at Berkeley in 1965. His world-leading laboratory now

contains seven very sophisticated molecular beam apparati, which

were specially designed to pursue problems, associated with

reaction dynamics, photochemical processes, and molecular

spectroscopy. His awards include: Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1969 -

1971); Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Science (1975);

Fellow, American Physical Society, (1976); John Simon Guggenheim

Fellow (1976 - 1977); Member, National Academy of Sciences

(1979); Member, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, China (1980); Ernest O.

Lawrence Award, U.S. Department of Energy (1981); Peter Debye

Award of Physical Chemistry, American Chemical Society (1986) and

the National Medal of Science in 1986.

Arthur D. Riggs, Ph.D., a noted molecular biologist, serves as the

Chair, Division of Biology, and Associate Director of the Beckman

Research Institute of the City of Hope National Medical Center,

which has been designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center by NCI.

Dr. Riggs' was one of the scientific founders of Genentech. He is

a pioneer in developing an understanding of how methylation acts

as an epigenetic control. Currently he is studying X chromosome

inactivation and the biological roles of DNA methylation. Dr.

Riggs' scientific achievements span three decades at City of Hope.

EpiGenX has accepted invitations to make presentations at two industry conferences this month. The company will be presenting at the Innovative Drug Development Conference in New York on May 8th and the C21 Biotech Convergence Conference in Monterey Bay, California on May 23rd.

EpiGenX Pharmaceuticals is pioneering the development of epigenetic-based diagnostics and therapies tailored to the needs of individual patients. Epigenetic strategies entail developing the advanced understanding of gene regulation, and its manipulation in order to fight disease, particularly cancer and infections. The company's technology platforms all involve DNA methylation. EpiGenX has three commercialization pathways. Its drug discovery tools, EpiHiTS(TM) Technology include a suite of high-throughput assays for the rapid discovery of new epigenetic-based drugs. The company is developing novel and safe therapeutics to fight cancer and infectious diseases through epigenetic mechanisms. EpiGenX is also developing a suite of high-throughput diagnostic and epigenomics technologies to generate information on the activity and inactivity of genes in relation to various diseases. EpiGenX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is located in Santa Barbara, CA. For more information, call 805-964-4486 or log on to http://www.epigenx.com

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act"). In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "plan," "confident that," "believe," "expect," "intend to" and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Act and are subject to the safe harbor created by the Act. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, market conditions, competitive factors, the ability to successfully complete additional financings and other risks.