Valeant Pharmaceuticals Sells Discovery and Preclinical Assets to Ardea Biosciences.

ALISO VIEJO, Calif. -- Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE:VRX) today announced the sale of certain of its discovery and preclinical assets to Ardea Biosciences, Inc. (formerly IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals). The sale includes the rights to Valeant's HIV and cancer development programs.

Under the terms of the agreement, Ardea will make payments to Valeant upon the achievement of clinical milestones for both HIV and cancer programs. Valeant will retain an option, exercisable upon the completion of Phase 2b studies by Ardea, to reacquire rights to commercialize its HIV program outside of the United States and Canada upon Ardea's completion of Phase 3 trials. Ardea will pay Valeant development milestones and royalties upon its commercialization of the HIV and cancer programs. Valeant would make milestone and royalty payments to Ardea related to the clinical advancement and commercialization of the HIV program should Valeant exercise its option to this program.

Timothy C. Tyson, Valeant's president and chief executive officer, said, "The sale to Ardea is another significant step forward in the execution of our restructuring initiative. The agreement will further the development of important programs for HIV and other therapies while allowing us to retain an interest in the commercial rights to our HIV compounds."

About Valeant

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International (NYSE:VRX) is a global specialty pharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures and markets a broad range of pharmaceutical products primarily in the areas of neurology, infectious disease and dermatology. More information about Valeant can be found at www.valeant.com.

Forward-looking Statement 

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the anticipated benefits and potentially successful development of the company's HIV and cancer programs. These statements are based upon the current expectations and beliefs of management and are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties relating to the future development of the HIV and cancer programs, the receipt of milestone and other payments upon commercialization of these programs, the company's ability to exercise its option to reacquire rights to commercialize the HIV program and its ability to make milestone and royalty payments should it choose to do so, and other risks and uncertainties discussed in the companies' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Valeant wishes to caution the reader that these factors are among the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations described in the forward-looking statements. Valeant also cautions the reader that undue reliance should not be placed on any of the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The company undertakes no obligation to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect actual outcomes.