Janus Pharmaceuticals Inc. Announces IND Filing for JA-001.

LOS ANGELES -- Cream Formulation of Anti-Zoster Drug to Be Evaluated in Phase 1 Studies in the United States

Janus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Janus) announced the filing of an Investigational New Drug application for a topical formulation of an anti-viral product with previously demonstrated activity against the varicella zoster virus (VZV) in both preclinical and clinical studies. Janus plans to conduct clinical studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of JA-001 (also known as ARYS-01 cream) a topical formulation of sorivudine for the treatment of herpes zoster infections.

Sorivudine is an antiviral nucleoside analog which is transported into viral-infected cells and converted to monophosphate analogs by virus-encoded thymidine kinases. Sorivudine was originally discovered by Yamasa Corporation of Chiba, Japan, and is being developed as a topical formulation by Janus under a joint development agreement with aRigen Inc. of Tokyo, Japan. aRigen has filed several patents to cover the production method and use of the topical formulation for the treatment of herpes zoster.

Herpes zoster, also known as shingles, results from a reactivation of a primary varicella-zoster virus infection (chicken pox). Over 90 percent of adults in the United States have serologic evidence of VZV infection and are at risk for herpes zoster. The annualized incidence of herpes zoster is about 1.5 to 3.0 cases per 1000 persons, or more than 500,000 cases on average per year in the United States.

Janus Pharmaceuticals (Janus) is a specialty pharmaceutical company founded in 2004 that has a growing portfolio of topical pharmaceutical products for the treatment of infectious diseases. Janus currently has three products in development: JA-001; JA-002, a gel formulation of a novel proprietary antibiotic targeting prevention and treatment of bacterial infections of the skin; and JA-003, an antibiotic cream for the treatment of acne. Janus is also actively pursuing the acquisition of additional products which will complement their growing product portfolio. For more information about Janus and its products please visit www.januspharma.com .