Immusol, Inc. Announces Research Collaboration With Peking University to Develop Therapeuic Compounds

SAN DIEGO, CA – 08/30/2005 – Immusol announced today that it has entered into a collaborative research agreement with leading researchers at Peking University (PKU), to identify, isolate and characterize patentable therapeutic compounds. Under the terms of the agreement, PKU will isolate and purify the active ingredients from a variety of natural plants and herbs with therapeutic potential. Immusol will characterize the biological activity of such ingredients using its proprietary assays for oncology, infectious disease, and other disease areas. Immusol will receive an exclusive worldwide license outside of China for any compounds developed by PKU under this collaboration. Additionally, rights for the compounds will be owned by PKU in China. Immusol will be solely responsible for moving compounds developed under this collaboration through both pre-clinical and human clinical trials in all territories outside of China.

Dr. Li-he Zhang, the Director of National Key Laboratory of Natural Products and Biomimics and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the lead investigator for this research program. "We are pleased to be working with Immusol," said Dr. Zhang. "This collaboration will help us to understand the biology of the compounds that we are developing and as a result, we expect this to greatly facilitate the speed and efficiency of our research program."

"We are very excited to initiate this important collaboration with Professor Zhang from Peking University, a renowned researcher," said Flossie Wong-Staal, Ph.D., Immusol's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Research. "This collaboration is an important step in Immusol's efforts in exploring R&D collaboration and partnering with leading Asian Pacific research institutes and biopharmaceutical companies. We look forward to expanding our Asia alliances where Immusol's strengths in drug discovery research can be leveraged."

Peking University is a comprehensive and national key university consisting of 30 colleges and 12 departments. The university emphasizes basic sciences with special attention to the development of applied sciences. At present, Peking University has 216 research institutes and research centers, and there are two national engineering research centers, 81 key national disciplines, 12 national key laboratories. The university combines research on important scientific issues with the training of personnel with high-level specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives for simultaneous improvements in teaching and research work, and also the promotion of interaction and mutual promotion among various subjects.

Immusol is a privately held San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of novel therapies to treat human diseases. Immusol uses an integrated approach, starting with a proprietary discovery technology, to identify therapeutic molecules involved in the areas of cancer, viral infection and ophthalmology. Based on these discoveries, Immusol develops small molecule and protein-based therapies alone or in collaboration with drug development partners. Immusol's lead drug candidate, ChelASE, is being studied in clinical trials for the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars. Other drug candidates are in various stages of development.