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Nereus Pharmaceuticals Announces Keith Bostian Joins Its Scientific Advisory Board

SAN DIEGO - November 05, 2002 - Nereus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a pioneer in drug discovery and development from marine microbial sources, today announced that it has appointed Keith Bostian, Ph.D. to its scientific advisory board. Dr. Bostian will also act as an executive consultant to the company.

Bostian is a scientist with an entrepreneurial background who founded two biotech companies. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the emerging field of chemogenomics, and is currently a member of the company's board of directors. Prior to this, Bostian was a founder and chief operating officer of Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Inc., now Essential Therapeutics, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company with clinical and pre-clinical programs focused on hematology, oncology, and infectious diseases. Before Microcide, he was head of microbiology and molecular genetics at Merck & Co., where he was responsible for antimicrobial research and new leads from natural products for all of Merck's worldwide drug discovery programs.

"We are honored to have Dr. Bostian on our scientific advisory board. His breadth and depth of experience in oncology, infectious disease and natural products research significantly enhances Nereus' development capabilities," said Kobi Sethna, CEO of Nereus. "He will be a tremendous asset to us as we continue to identify exciting compounds and eventually develop new medicines from marine microbes."

Bostian is an inventor on numerous patents in drug discovery and genomics, and has led efforts resulting in numerous clinical candidates, one leading to a new class of anti-fungal antibiotics, Cancidasâ. He has served on numerous advisory and editorial boards and is a fellow of the American Academy for Microbiology. He was a member of the faculty at Brown University, as assistant and associate professor, and as an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellow, he did postdoctoral research at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center and at Brandeis University with Harlyn O. Halvorson. Bostian earned his doctorate in biochemistry from the University of London.

"I am pleased to join Nereus' scientific advisory board, which offers the company a wide range of expertise, from cancer and infectious diseases research to natural products and microbiology," said Bostian. "Nereus' discovery and development efforts utilizing untapped sources of chemical diversity will provide an uninterrupted pipeline of novel drug candidates to treat infectious diseases, cancer and inflammation. I am eager to lend my expertise to the effort."

About Nereus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Nereus Pharmaceuticals is an innovative drug discovery and development company pursuing untapped sources of chemical diversity. With unmatched expertise in marine microbiology and structural elucidation, Nereus is using its integrated platform technologies to identify novel biologically active compounds. The company believes that its marine microbes will be the next great source of drug discovery for the pharmaceutical industry. Nereus aims to develop and optimize drug candidates to treat cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammation. The company is privately held and based in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.nereuspharm.com.

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