Signature BioScience Announces Management Team Changes; Robert Zimmerman Promoted to President & COO; Will Assume Company Leadership From Outgoing CEO Mark McDade.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 2002

Signature BioScience today announced it has promoted Robert J. Zimmerman, S.D. to president and chief operating officer and named him a member of the Board of Directors. Formerly, Dr. Zimmerman was COO and EVP of Research & Development. Before joining Signature earlier in 2002, Dr. Zimmerman was VP of Biotechnology Research at Bayer Corp. Effective Dec. 2, 2002, Dr. Zimmerman will assume day-to-day leadership of the company from outgoing CEO Mark McDade, who was recently appointed chief executive at Protein Design Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq:PDLI). McDade will become chairman of Signature's Board of Directors.

"The promise I saw when I joined Signature has been rapidly confirmed by the quality of the discovery platform, scientists and management of the company," said Bob Zimmerman, S.D., president and COO of Signature. "I am excited by the progress I've seen to date and I look forward to leading the company's efforts to fully exploit the R&D and commercial potential of our 'cells first' discovery platform and the pipeline emerging from it."

Through the use of its proprietary primary human cell-based bioassay, Cytection(TM), the front end of its 'cells first' platform, Signature has built a pipeline of anti-cancer compounds that consists of one Phase II product, one pre-clinical program and three research-stage programs.

"Signature has rapidly built a promising oncology product pipeline. Over the next several years, the company's focus needs to be on executing its product development plans while continuing to efficiently discover novel compounds with its 'cells first' drug discovery platform," said Signature Board member, Geoffrey Duyk, M.D., Ph.D., CSO of Exelixis. "The Board believes that Bob's experience, skill-set and management style is ideal to deliver on Signature's promise."

"Signature has skillfully executed its strategy to rapidly evolve from a tools company into a true drug discovery company, while consistently meeting its milestones," said Jean-Francois Formela, senior principal of Atlas Venture, and a member of Signature's Board.

Regarding McDade's transition, Alex Barkas, managing partner at Prospect Venture Partners and a Signature director, said, "We are grateful for the contributions Mark has made in growing Signature from an exciting technology platform to a novel validated drug discovery company with a strong management team. We are delighted he has agreed to stay involved as chairman at Signature as he turns over day-to-day operations to such a highly qualified candidate."

About Signature BioScience

Signature BioScience employs a "cells first" drug discovery approach to rapidly deliver highly qualified, small molecule leads for the potential treatment of cancer. The company has an emerging oncology product pipeline that includes SN4071, currently in Phase II clinical trials for soft tissue sarcoma; SN6211, a pre-clinical lead showing good activity against a variety of tumor types, including lung, malignant melanoma and ovarian; and three research-stage programs in cancer. Signature is seeking to drive revenues by offering access to elements of its discovery platform on a fee-for-service basis, as in its partnership with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, while internally using the platform to discover drug candidates for out-license to pharmaceutical and biotech partners prior to the clinical development stage. The company is also globally commercializing its WaveSpec(TM) instrumentation -- based on its novel label-free microwave spectroscopy, MCS -- in collaboration with its partner MDS Sciex. Signature was formed in 1999 and is venture-funded.

WaveSpec and Cytection are trademarks of Signature BioScience, Inc.