Nortran Announces Strategic Re-Focus and New Appointment.

Business Editors

VANCOUVER, B.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 16, 2001

Nortran Pharmaceuticals Inc. (OTCBB:NTRDF)(TSE:NRT.)(CDNX:NRT.) announced today that its future activities will focus exclusively in the cardiac area.

Nortran currently has three distinct programs in the cardiac arrhythmia area and will target other cardiac indications in the future. Nortran also announced that Dr. Barry Johnson has joined the company as Director of Pharmacology. Dr. Johnson has extensive experience in cardiovascular research, including ion channel structure and function.

Drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease are the world's largest-selling category, with 1999 sales of US $70 billion. Many important cardiac medical needs remain unmet. Current drugs for treating cardiac arrhythmia have serious side effects that severely limit their use. Nortran is focused on finding antiarrhythmic drugs that are both safe and effective. The chemistry and pharmacology expertise developed in that way has been amplified by an extensive network of external collaborators, and all these resources can be usefully focused on other cardiac targets. From its inception, Nortran's primary focus has been in the cardiac area as exemplified by its antiarrhythmia programs.

"Nortran is excited about this increased focus in the cardiac area. Nortran is well positioned to succeed in this area with a recent partnership, a drug about to enter clinical trials, and a healthy cash position," said Bob Rieder, President. "Nortran's initial strategy was to spread risk among multiple therapeutic areas. The new strategic focus will spread risk within the cardiac area."

This strategic re-focus follows Nortran's negative results in its recent phase II clinical trial for its anti-cough drug.

"Any future work done in the cough area will be contingent on partnering that program," continued Rieder. "Because our cough drug has a novel mechanism of action, we believe that a deal is possible."

Nortran recently announced a partnership agreement with AstraZeneca covering its RSD1122 antiarrhythmia program and expects to begin clinical trials in its RSD1235 antiarrhythmia program in the near future. Nortran is also working on a pre-clinical program to create an antiarrhythmic drug targeted at the atrial selective Kv1.5 ion channel. All three programs are focused on the estimated US $3 billion market opportunity in cardiac arrhythmia.

Nortran's cash resources reported at August 31, 2000 were $10 million, sufficient for almost two years operation at the current spending rate. Key milestones in 2001 include Phase 1 clinical testing in Nortran's RSD1235 program, achievement by AstraZeneca of the first milestone in the RSD1122 program, and a further corporate partnership.

Nortran has expanded its scientific team with the appointment of Dr. Barry Johnson as director of Pharmacology. Dr. Johnson joins Nortran from the department of Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Connecticut, where he served as a professor since 1998. At U of C, Dr. Johnson spearheaded a laboratory focused on regulation of voltage-gated calcium channels by the cytoskeleton. He also maintained multiple collaborations and has authored several scientific papers, the most recent publication in Nature on the regulation of cell movement mediated by calcium channels.

"Barry is an extraordinary addition to the Nortran scientific team," said Dr. Greg Beatch, Vice-President of Research. "Barry brings extensive knowledge in the area of ion channels which will be extremely beneficial in the discovery and development of this new cardiac drug strategy. His depth of experience will be important to the company's ability to move rapidly into the next stages of cardiac drug discovery."

Nortran Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery company focused on cardiovascular applications of ion channel modulating drugs. In its program to treat life-threatening cardiac arrythmia, Nortran has developed several drug candidates suitable for clinical testing as treatments for atrial arrhythmia. Nortran has shown in preclinical studies that its drug candidates are both safe and effective in the suppression of atrial arrhythmia, with little risk of the dangerous side effects associated with current drugs. The company recently achieved one of its most significant corporate milestones by signing the licensing agreement with AstraZeneca PLC.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Bob Rieder, President & Chief Executive Officer

Warning: The company relies on litigation protection for "forward-looking" statements.

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