CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, May 20, 2009—SanoGene Therapeutics Inc. (www.sanogene.com), a privately held, early stage biotechnology company developing cancer therapeutics, announced today that it has appointed Daniel Von Hoff, M.D., F.A.C.P., and Jeffrey Sherman, M.D., F.A.C.P., to its Scientific Advisory Board.

“We are thrilled to have recruited such outstanding researchers and clinicians to our SAB,” said Caralynn Nowinski, M.D., President and Acting CEO of SanoGene. “The expertise that Dr. Von Hoff and Dr. Sherman bring to the team is remarkable, as they offer unique perspective on the challenges of oncology drug development, particularly those of developing a therapeutic for brain cancer. Our advisory boards have been key to our corporate and product development thus far, and as such, we are encouraged that these new relationships will continue to help us meet the milestones of our preclinical program, propelling us closer to the clinic.”

Thomas L. Churchwell, Managing Partner of Midwest Venture Partners and member of SanoGene’s Management Advisory Board, commented, “As early stage investors, we often look to the quality of advisory board membership to judge the real scientific merit of a proposal. The fact that Dr. Nowinski has been able to attract such experienced and well-recognized scientists speaks volumes about the quality of SanoGene’s technology and about the probability of reaching the market.”

Daniel D. Von Hoff, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Dr. Von Hoff is currently the Physician in Chief and Director of Translational Research at TGen (Translational Genomics Research Institute) in Phoenix, Arizona. He has held this position since 2003. He is also Chief Scientific Officer for US Oncology and since 2005 has been the Chief Scientific Officer, Scottsdale Clinical Research Institute for Scottsdale Healthcare’s Clinical Research Institute.

His major interest is in the development of new anticancer agents, both in the clinic and in the laboratory. Dr. Von Hoff and his colleagues were involved in the beginning of the development of many of the agents we now use routinely, including: mitoxantrone, fludarabine, paclitaxel, docetaxel, gemcitabine, irinotecan, nelarabine, capecitabine, lapatinib and others. At present, he and his colleagues are concentrating on the development of molecularly targeted therapies. Dr. Von Hoff’s laboratory interests and contributions have been in the area of in vitro drug sensitivity testing to individualize treatment for the patient. He and his laboratory are now concentrating on discovery of new targets in pancreatic cancer. Dr. Von Hoff has published more than 542 papers, 133 book chapters, and more than 950 abstracts.

Dr. Von Hoff was appointed to the President’s National Cancer Advisory Board in June 2004 through March 2010. Dr. Von Hoff is the past President of the American Association for Cancer Research (the world’s largest cancer research organization), a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, and a member and past board member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. He is a founder of ILEX™ Oncology, Inc. (acquired by Genzyme after Ilex had 2 agents, alemtuzumab and clofarabine approved for patients with leukemia). He is founder and the Editor Emeritus of Investigational New Drugs – The Journal of New Anticancer Agents; and, Editor-in-Chief of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.

 
Jeffrey W. Sherman, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Dr. Sherman is Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President Research & Development at IDM Pharma. He has nearly 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Before joining IDM Pharma, Dr. Sherman was Vice President of Clinical Science at Takeda Global Research and Development. He also served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President at NeoPharm, Inc., which was focused on the development of Cintredekin Besudotox, IL-13, for GBM.

In addition, Dr. Sherman held various positions at Searle/Pharmacia, including Director, Senior Director, and Executive Director of Clinical Research, for a variety of therapeutic areas, including infectious diseases, women’s health, sleep, central nervous system, and oncology. He also served as Head, Oncology Global Medical Operations. Prior to Searle/Pharmacia, Dr. Sherman worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Clinical Pharmacology and Clinical Research.

Dr. Sherman received his medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University/Chicago Medical School. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Northwestern University, where he also served as chief medical resident. Additionally, he completed fellowship training at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) and was a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at UCSF. Dr. Sherman is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a member of several professional societies as well as a Diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine. Dr. Sherman is President Elect of the Drug Information Association (DIA) and a member of the Board of Directors. He also served as chairperson of the DIA 2008 Annual Meeting.

About SanoGene
SanoGene Therapeutics Inc. is an early stage biotechnology company, utilizing innovative RNAi-based technologies to develop biopharmaceutical products for deadly cancers. The Company’s platform technology combines the capabilities of multiple therapeutics into one deliverable product with synergistic effects. This proprietary multi-targeted approach is employed in the development of a pipeline of drug candidates with the potential to treat multiple cancers. SanoGene’s lead candidate, SG-1311, has demonstrated efficacy in animal models of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common and deadliest form of primary brain cancer. Patients with this form of cancer rarely survive beyond 12 months from diagnosis. SanoGene’s proprietary constructs simultaneously block the activity of multiple cancer-promoting genes to potentially stop tumor progression, block healthy tissue invasion, and promote cancer cell death. SanoGene brings together scientific and managerial talent, proprietary technology and a scalable business model to deliver the next generation of cancer treatment. For more information about the Company and its Advisory Boards, please visit www.sanogene.com.

CONTACT: Caralynn Nowinski, M.D., cnowinski@sanogene.com or 312-927-3570

We are proud to announce that SanoGene Therapeutics Inc. was featured in the July 2008 issue of Start-up Magazine, a leading industry publication. For more information and copies of the article, please visit the publisher’s site.