atugen and Eisai Sign First Contract Research Agreement

Berlin, Germany, 05 July, 2004 – atugen AG announced today that it has signed a contract research agreement with Eisai London Research Laboratories (ELL), a subsidiary of Eisai Co., Ltd., Japan’s fourth largest pharmaceutical company. This is the first agreement between the two companies. The contract covers target validation and lead optimisation and atugen will use its gene silencing technologies, including siRNA, GeneBlocs®, delivery reagents and cell line optimisation for an undisclosed number of Eisai targets.

No financial details of the research agreement are being disclosed.

“atugen is very pleased to be announcing its first research agreement with Eisai, which has major drug discovery achievements in the areas of neurobiology and gastroenterology. Obviously we hope this will be the start of a long and fruitful relationship,” said Dr. Andre Lochter, atugen´s Director of Business Development. “Using our proprietary gene interference tools should speed up the target validation process for Eisai. The pharmaceutical industry has no shortage of targets, but ascertaining whether they are the right ones to go for is the key to optimal drug development.”

Commenting on the new agreement, Dr Yukio Nishizawa, Research Director of ELL, said, “We consider that atugen’s gene silencing and RNAi research tools will strengthen our drug discovery process and foster ELL’s competitive position within the field.”

This is atugen’s second research agreement this year with Japanese pharmaceutical companies. The company announced a multi-year agreement with Sankyo on 17 May, 2004.

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atugen AG, www.atugen.com the RNAi Therapeutics Company, is a biopharmaceutical company based in Berlin, Germany currently employing about 40 individuals. atugen's therapeutic siRNA programs are focused on in vivo studies in oncology and liver diseases, exploiting its proprietary oligonucleotide delivery technologies and chemically stabilized siRNA structures. Beside atugen's main focus on the development of RNAi therapeutics the Company continues its contract research business offering of in vitro and in vivo target validation to biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies through research alliances and fee-for-service agreements.GeneBloc® and SignaLink™ are trademarks of atugen AG.

Eisai London Research Laboratories Ltd. (ELL), a research-based drug discovery facility established in 1990, is located within the fertile environment of University College London, UK. Its parent company, Eisai Co., Ltd., Japan’s fourth largest pharmaceutical company, counts Aricept®, the leading prescribed Alzheimer's medication worldwide, among its major developments. ELL’s multinational team is positioned at the start of the path that leads from research bench to patient treatment. ELL is dedicated to creating innovative medicines, directed at novel targets, to satisfy the increasing unmet medical need in neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis to enhance the quality of human life. In this endeavour, the needs of the patient, their caregivers and families are paramount.

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