Quorex Pharmaceuticals Names Dr. Krzysztof Appelt Senior Vice President, Drug Development.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

CARLSBAD, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--April 12, 2001

In a move intended to accelerate drug development, Quorex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing an entirely new class of broad-spectrum anti-infective drugs, today announced the appointment of industry veteran Dr. Krzysztof Appelt as senior vice president, drug development.

Dr. Appelt will spearhead the continued aggressive research and development of Quorex Pharmaceuticals' powerful inhibitors of a unique and widespread bacterial "quorum sensing" signaling system. The Quorex system is based on the recent breakthrough discovery that many pathogenic bacteria use a common chemical "language" to communicate with one another and jointly regulate infectious mechanisms. These bacteria begin their "infection" only after they have communicated with each other that a critical mass, or "quorum," of bacteria is present in the host. When this signaling pathway is interrupted, the pathogen's ability to cause infection is disabled.

Dr. Appelt will be responsible for advancing the research and development of compounds that target and interrupt this common communication pathway as a means to destroy the "command and control" center of the bacterial "army." The resultant drugs are expected to represent a new class of "ideal antibiotics" that are non-toxic, broad spectrum, pathogen specific, and which apply low selective pressure for the evolution of resistance mechanisms.

"Dr. Appelt brings to Quorex Pharmaceuticals consummate stature and immense experience in anti-infective drug development that will help advance our company's research and leadership position in this emerging and promising field," said Robert Robb, president and chief executive officer of Quorex Pharmaceuticals. "Quorex is on the threshold of discovering one of the most significant developments in the anti-infective marketplace. Dr. Appelt's background in all aspects of drug discovery and development combined with proven interdisciplinary team management experience in developing novel pharmaceuticals will further accelerate our pace in rapidly testing and bringing our product to market."

"Quorex Pharmaceuticals is in a unique and enviable position in the biopharmaceutical industry -- poised to revolutionize the anti-infective marketplace with a new class of drug capable of disabling virulence in a broad array of pathogens," said Dr. Appelt. "It is with great enthusiasm that I join this industry innovator and become part of a company with such enormous potential."

About Dr. Appelt

A 21-year industry veteran, Dr. Appelt brings to Quorex Pharmaceuticals a rich and productive background in all aspects of modern drug discovery and development. He joins Quorex Pharmaceuticals after 15 years with Agouron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (now owned by Pfizer), where he was one of the pioneers of structure-based drug design methodology. During his tenure at Agouron, Dr. Appelt led the discovery and clinical development of Viracept, one of the most widely used anti-HIV drugs. More recently, he initiated and led the research and development effort on several anti-angiogenic projects for ophthalmic and oncology indications.

Prior to Agouron, Dr. Appelt was Assistant Professor in Research, Department of Biology and Chemistry, at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Appelt holds a Masters of Science degree in Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Poznan, Poland, and received his Ph.D, at the Max Planck Institute, Berlin, Germany.

About Quorex Pharmaceuticals Inc.

A biopharmaceutical company based in Carlsbad, Quorex Pharmaceutical's mission is to discover, develop and commercialize an entirely new class of broad spectrum antibiotics for the effective treatment of serious bacterial infections including those that are resistant to presently available drugs. The company's proprietary compounds inhibit a newly discovered bacterial signaling pathway that regulates virulence in a broad array of human pathogens.

Quorex Pharmaceuticals has demonstrated that its proprietary compounds dramatically inhibit virulence factor production in both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria and in drug resistant strains of bacteria, in vitro.

Quorex has applied its proprietary technologies, including target molecular structures, computational chemistry, high-throughput screening assays and a powerful bioinformatics platform to effectively design, synthesize and identify compounds that dramatically inhibit the quorum sensing pathway in both Gram negative and Gram positive pathogens. The design and discovery of these Quorex inhibitor compounds have enabled the initiation of animal feasibility studies.

Although the company's primary objective is to develop stand-alone drugs, recent findings indicate that Quorex compounds, when combined with existing important antibiotics, significantly potentiate, by up to 60 fold, the killing action of those antibiotics against key bacterial targets, in vitro. If corroborated by ongoing animal feasibility studies, the planned adjunctive and proprietary combination therapies are expected to result in a significantly lower dosage regimen for important antibiotics, thus potentially decreasing toxicity and increasing their effectiveness against drug resistant bacteria.

Quorex Pharmaceuticals Inc., recently completed a second round of funding for $20 million from lead investor Prism Venture Partners, Johnson & Johnson Development Corp. (JJDC), the venture capital subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson; Tullis-Dickerson & Co. Inc., one of the country's largest health care focused venture firms; IngleWood Ventures; CDIB and Pacific Growth Equities. JJDC, Tullis-Dickerson and IngleWood were investors in the first round of financing.