September 26, 2003

Altor BioScience announced that it has received a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to further support discovery and development of drug candidates for treating multiple sclerosis (MS). Altor is currently using its proprietary STAR-IMPACT™ Screening technology to identify small molecule inhibitors of pathogenic T-cell responses. The long-term goal of this program is to commercially develop orally active immunomodulatory drugs for autoimmune diseases and graft rejection. The grant which provides approximately $100,000 to the company over a twelve-month period will allow the company to apply this approach to selectively target T-cells responsible for inflammation and tissue destruction in MS patients.

Peter Rhode, Ph.D., Vice President of Research and Development and Principal Investigator of the project, commented, “I am delighted that Altor has been awarded this SBIR grant. The funding will help us to accelerate our efforts to develop a new class of disease-modifying drugs to treat chronic autoimmune diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis. This award also serves to validate Altor’s STAR-IMPACT screening technology and its overall approach to drug discovery.”

This grant represents the seventh SBIR grant awarded to Altor for the development of its patented technologies and products.

Altor Bioscience Corporation is a product-oriented biopharmaceutical company engaged in the research and development of novel therapeutic approaches for treating cancer, viral infections and autoimmune diseases. The company is privately held and is headquartered in Miramar, Florida. The company's most advanced products include T-cell receptor-based protein therapeutics directed against targets expressed on a variety of different cancers.