Irvine, California — March 20, 2007 — Meyer Pharmaceuticals llc announced today that the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 7,175,839.  The new patent covers a cancer treatment in which activated cells are implanted into a tumor in a cancer patient, stimulating the patient’s immune system to eliminate the tumor.  The process involves cytokine priming and dendritic cell loading in situ, and has proven successful in animal studies.  Meyer Pharmaceutical’s corporate focus is now on arthritis and other inflammatory conditions, and the company is seeking to out-license its extensive patent portfolio covering cancer vaccine products.

“We are pleased to build a second tier of intellectual property onto the platform we licensed from the University of California,” said Michael O’Neill, Meyer’s President and Chief Executive Officer.  “The base cancer technology was invented at UCI by Dr. Morrie Granger and his colleagues.  Meyer Pharmaceuticals was formed back in 1996 with the mandate to undertake preclinical and clinical testing, and bring promising technologies to the marketplace.  The new patent protects important improvements made during the development of our cancer product.”

Meyer Pharmaceuticals holds an exclusive license to a family of live cell biologics for treating cancer, covered by U.S. Patent Nos. 5,837,233; 6,203,787; 6,207,147; and 6,277,368.  Activated or genetically engineered cytokine-secreting cells are implanted into the tumor, or mixed with tumor antigen and administered at another site.  These compositions create a robust and clinically effective immune response, and were found to reduce tumor size in human patients with recurrent glioblastoma (a form of brain cancer).

The new patent is assigned directly to Meyer Pharmaceuticals.  It came from follow-up animal studies which revealed that early sequential administration of live cell biologics has a surprisingly synergistic effect.  The patent shows that 60% of the animals treated according to the patented method had essentially complete tumor regression, while progression of the cancer was stopped in the other 40%.  The treated animals were immune to rechallenge with the same tumor, a model for metastatic disease. 

The patent covers methods for treating cancer by sequential administration of the cellular products.  It also covers the live cell biologic as a composition of matter when used for treating cancer in this way.  A variation of the method involves sequential administration of tumor antigen plus primed or cytokine secreting cells at locations away from the tumor site.

“The findings described in the patent played an important role in the design of our clinical trials,” said Mr. O’Neill.  “This patent not only bolsters coverage for the proposed commercial product, it also extends the patent term.  This layered approach to intellectual property protection is a cornerstone of corporate strategy.  In the same fashion, we are building multiple layers of protection for Meyer’s anti-inflammatory products.”

Meyer Pharmaceuticals has developed products to treat both inflammatory disease and cancer.  Compelling data from Meyer’s inflammatory disease program in the last three years has led the company to define inflammatory disease as its primary focus. 

“We are fortunate to have more technology in our company than we can take into the clinic on our own,” said Matt Smith, Meyer’s Senior Vice President of Corporate Development.  “There is a great deal of current interest in cancer vaccine research.  In view of our current focus on arthritis, it makes sense for us to pass the torch for cancer vaccines to other companies.  We are prepared to consider licensing this technology out to the right partner on commercially reasonable terms.”

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Meyer Pharmaceuticals llc is a privately-held pharmaceutical company.  It engages in discovery research, provides pharmaceutical research services under the service mark Meyer Pharmaceuticals®, and develops pharmaceutical compositions for human clinical therapy.  Its primary focus is on biological agents for treatment of arthritis and other inflammatory disease.  Product under development include protein biologics for cytokine regulation via systemic administration, and apoptosis-inducing agents that eliminate pro-inflammatory cells by administration directly into arthritic joints.

This news release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties inherent in pharmaceutical research, corporate collaboration and financing, preclinical and clinical development, and intellectual property protection.