TOPIGEN Pharmaceuticals Appoints Jeremy Curnock Cook to Its Board of Directors

MONTREAL -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 06/03/08 -- TOPIGEN Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specialized in developing products for respiratory disorders, today announced the appointment of Jeremy Curnock Cook, MA, to its Board of Directors. Mr. Curnock Cook is Executive Chairman and founder of BioScience Managers Limited (BML).

Gary Lessing, Chairman of TOPIGEN's Board of Directors, commented, "Jeremy has a great depth of experience in the investment community as well as within the life sciences industry. Jeremy's counsel will prove invaluable as we move the company's pipeline of respiratory therapeutics through development. On behalf of TOPIGEN and the Board, I welcome him."

Prior to founding BML, Mr. Curnock Cook created and led the Rothschild Bioscience Unit, the international and multidisciplinary team responsible for the investment advisory and management of several funds, including the early stage focused Biotechnology Investments Limited (BIL) and the mid-stage focused International Biotechnology Trust plc (IBT). Under Mr. Curnock Cook's stewardship BIL's NAV grew from approximately US$150 million to over US$600 million, and IBT's NAV grew from GBP 80 million to over GBP 350 million. At Rothschild, Mr. Curnock Cook was also responsible for launching the first dedicated biotechnology fund for the Australian market and launching a joint venture with Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation that created Healthcare Ventures, an investment vehicle dedicated to seed stage investments in Europe.

Mr. Curnock Cook has served on more than 30 Boards of Directors in the life science sector in the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Japan and Australia. Current directorships include: Targeted Genetics Corporation (USA), Chairman; Inflazyme Pharmaceuticals (Canada), Chairman; Osteologix Inc. (USA); Biocompatibles International plc (UK) and Silence Therapeutics plc (UK). He is also a past Board member of Rothschild Asset Management.

Mr. Curnock Cook earned his MA in Natural Sciences from Trinity College in Dublin in 1971, and was a research scientist at the Institute of Cancer Research from 1972 to 1973.

About TOPIGEN

TOPIGEN is a privately held, clinical-stage company focused on developing new classes of inhaled drugs for respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma. TOPIGEN is actively progressing two drug candidates in Phase 2 trials for COPD and asthma, including TPI 1020, a novel anti-inflammatory, licensed from NicOx S.A. and TPI ASM8, which utilizes its proprietary mRNA-silencing technology. These drug candidates target multiple pathways and pro-inflammatory mediators involved in chronic pulmonary diseases.

Current venture investors include NovaQuest, MMV Financial, Inc., BDC Venture Capital, Fonds de solidarite FTQ, Desjardins Venture Capital, Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (Caisse), T2C2/BIO 2000 and Lothian Partners 27 (sarl) SICAR. For more detailed information on TOPIGEN visit www.topigen.com.

2008-06-03 12:08:40 0376357 MARKETWIRE