Agensys names Donald B. Rice as Chairman Santa Monica, Calif., March 11, 2002 - Agensys, Inc. announced today that Donald B. Rice has been named to the additional post of Chairman of the Board of Directors. Dr. Rice continues to serve, as he has since the company began operations in 1997, as President and Chief Executive Officer. Agensys is a private biotechnology company developing new therapeutic antibodies to treat several types of solid tumor cancers. The company recently completed its third round of financing, raising $42.8 million of gross proceeds in a private placement. Commented Dr. Rice, "I appreciate the confidence shown by our board of directors and look forward to Agensys becoming a leading company in antibody therapeutics for treating cancer." Prior to joining a group of UCLA physicians and scientists in founding Agensys, Dr. Rice served as President and COO of Teledyne, Inc. Other prior positions included Secretary of the Air Force and President and CEO of the RAND Corporation. He also serves Scios, Inc. as non-executive Chairman of the Board, and as a director of Amgen, Inc. Unocal Corporation, Vulcan Materials Co., and Wells Fargo & Company. His non-profit sector service includes Trustee of RAND and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the RAND Graduate School. Dr. Rice received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an MS in Industrial Management from Purdue University, and the Ph.D. in Economics, also from Purdue. He has been the recipient of honorary doctorates in engineering, management, law, humane letters, and public policy. About Agensys, Inc. Agensys, Inc. (formerly UroGenesys, Inc.) is a privately held biotechnology company that exploits multiple product opportunities to develop fully human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) to treat solid tumor cancers based on its own proprietary targets. The Company has discovered and validated a large portfolio of novel clinically relevant cancer targets that have been carefully selected to facilitate the objective of developing new efficacious therapeutics with fewer and less severe side effects. In addition, many of the Company's targets are expressed in multiple solid tumors and are amenable to more than one therapeutic modality (antibody, small molecule, vaccine). The Company's discoveries offer targets for 11 solid tumor cancers including prostate, kidney, bladder, lung, and colon. While the Company plans to exploit all product opportunities for its portfolio of targets, internal efforts are concentrated on antibody therapy. The Company has signed a multi-year partnership agreement with Abgenix that provides for the generation of human MAbs to 25 Agensys targets using Abgenix' antibody technologies. In July 2000, Agensys signed a $33 million agreement with Genentech for the development of MAb therapy to Prostate Stem Cell Antigen (PSCA), one of its targets. The Company's laboratories and offices are located in Santa Monica, CA. For more information see www.agensys.com. Contacts Donald B. Rice Chairman, President and CEO drice@agensys.com Aya Jakobovits, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Technology and Corporate Development, Chief Scientific Officer ajakobovits@agensys.com Paul G. Kanan Vice President, Operations and CFO pkanan@agensys.com << Back to Press Releases