Platar is Now Aroplatin

Aronex Pharmaceuticals Receives Orphan Drug Designation for Mesothelioma Indication for Platar (now "Aroplatin")

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Nov. 9 Aronex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on proprietary medicines to treat cancer and infectious diseases, announced today that the Company has assumed ownership of the Investigational New Drug application (IND) for Aroplatin(TM) (formerly known as Platar) from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Aroplatin is a liposomal formulation of a novel platinum product designed to overcome the toxicity and drug resistance that currently limit the usefulness of platinum, a chemotherapeutic agent widely used in the treatment of solid tumors. The Company also announced that Aroplatin has received Orphan Drug Designation for malignant mesothelioma from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

In commenting on the Aroplatin announcement, Goeffrey F. Cox, Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Aronex Pharmaceuticals, said, ``We are very impressed with the interim clinical data obtained to date on Aroplatin. We believe it has great potential in the treatment of solid tumors, and are anxious to begin conducting our own clinical development programs for this product. The transfer of the IND to Aronex Pharmaceuticals is the first step toward this end. It is our intent to develop a clinical strategy that will allow us to rapidly evaluate the safety and efficacy of Aroplatin in a number of indications, including mesothelioma and renal cell carcinoma. A large amount of preliminary data has already been collected in earlier clinical trials conducted at the institutional level, and we intend to expand these trials into multi-center trials to increase patient enrollment.''

The Orphan Drug Designation for malignant mesothelioma could give Aronex Pharmaceuticals the right to market Aroplatin, once approved, exclusively for seven years and carries with it the potential for future tax credits related to research and development costs.

The safety and efficacy of Aroplatin has been evaluated in two Phase II clinical trials conducted under an institutional IND at M.D. Anderson: a trial for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer usually associated with asbestos exposure, and a trial for the treatment of metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The Company recently announced that based on patient responses from a planned preliminary evaluation of Aroplatin in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma, it would expand enrollment of the Phase II trial.

** POSTED NOVEMBER 10, 1999 **