New Report Demonstrates BMP-7 Prevents Two Metabolic Disorders Associated with Chronic Kidney Disease.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS) today announced that the recent online issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology contains a preclinical report demonstrating that treatment with BMP-7, a signaling protein that was discovered by scientists from Curis, results in amelioration of two major complications of chronic kidney disease. The United States Renal Data System estimates that there are currently 423,000 patients in the U.S. with end-stage kidney disease and many more with various stages of chronic kidney disease.

Patients with chronic kidney disease or end-stage kidney disease experience a number of serious metabolic disorders that are associated with the loss of kidney function. Some of these disorders, such as severe anemia, have effective therapeutic treatments, such as erythropoietin. Other kidney-disease-related disorders, including renal osteodystrophy (a collective name for several forms of metabolic bone disease) and vascular calcification (a form of cardiovascular disease that involves mineralization of the blood vessels), have proven much more difficult to treat successfully. Cardiovascular mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease is extremely high.

The current report, entitled "Low Turnover Osteodystrophy and Vascular Calcification are Amenable to Skeletal Anabolism in an Animal Model of Chronic Kidney Disease and the Metabolic Syndrome," is authored by researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. The investigators demonstrate that BMP-7 treatment prevents renal osteodystrophy and vascular calcification by stimulating the rate of skeletal mineralization, thereby diverting mineral that might have been deposited inappropriately in the blood vessels.

About Curis, Inc.

Curis, Inc. is a therapeutic drug development company. The Company's technology focus is on regulatory pathways that control repair and regeneration. Curis' product development involves the use of proteins or small molecules to modulate these pathways. Curis has successfully used this technology and product development approach to produce several promising drug product candidates in the fields of cancer (under partnership with Genentech, which also includes a co-development collaboration between Curis and Genentech for a basal cell carcinoma product candidate), kidney disease (licensed to Ortho Biotech, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), neurological disorders (partnered with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals), hair growth, and cardiovascular disease. For more information, please visit the Curis web site at www.curis.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about Curis' drug discovery and development programs. Such statements may contain the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "seeks", "estimates" or similar expressions. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause Curis' actual results to be materially different from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Actual results can be affected by a number of important factors including, among other things: adverse results in Curis' and its strategic partners' product development programs; difficulties or delays in obtaining or maintaining required regulatory approvals; Curis' ability to obtain or maintain the patent and other proprietary intellectual property protection necessary for the development and commercialization of products based on its technologies; changes in or Curis' inability to execute its realigned business strategy; the risk that Curis does not obtain the additional funding required to conduct research and development of its product candidates and execute on its business plan; unplanned cash requirements and expenditures; risks relating to Curis' ability to enter into and maintain important strategic partnerships, including its ability to maintain its current collaboration agreements with Genentech, Ortho and Wyeth; the risk that competitors will discover and develop signaling pathway-based therapeutics faster and more successfully that Curis and its collaborators are able to; and other risk factors identified in Curis' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on 10-Q and any subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements represent the Company's views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date. Curis disclaims any intention or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.