CombinatoRx CEO named Innovator of the Year

Alexis Borisy honored by Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation, at the Emerging Technologies Conference

BOSTON, MA - September 25, 2003 - CombinatoRx, Incorporated today announced that President and CEO Alexis Borisy has been named the 2003 Innovator of the Year by Technology Review, MIT's Magazine of Innovation. He was selected from the TR100, a group of 100 individuals under age 35 whose innovative work in technology has made a profound impact on today's world. Mr. Borisy was chosen by the editors of Technology Review and an elite panel of judges and was honored last night at the Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT.

CombinatoRx is creating a new type of drug designed to hit multiple pathways in a disease network. While the industry has focused historically on developing drugs that modify single targets in a disease system, many diseases, in fact, are not amenable to this magic bullet approach. The systems biology methodology deployed by CombinatoRx identifies novel combination drugs with therapeutic actions that could not otherwise be found through conventional discovery efforts.

To discover these novel combination therapeutics, Borisy and a team of scientists created the world's first combination drug discovery platform. At the core of this technology is the ability to test large numbers of combinations of compounds at high throughput, rapidly identifying synergistic pairs of compounds with potential to become new medicines. To efficiently process the millions of data points generated from this approach, new techniques in high throughput screening and computational biology had to be invented and integrated into a single discovery platform. Today, CombinatoRx is using the platform to systematically test all pair wise combinations of the world's approved drugs, and the Company has identified and patented potential new combination medicines in multiple disease areas.

"It is truly a privilege to have been selected for this award," commented Mr. Borisy. "Our CombinatoRx technology platform is unique in the industry, allowing us to unlock a totally new kind of diversity and to potentially create a better type of medicine. On behalf of an outstanding group of scientists at CombinatoRx, we greatly appreciate this recognition from MIT."

The CombinatoRx pipeline includes clinical and preclinical agents for the treatment of cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. The Company also has ongoing research in respiratory, metabolic, and infectious diseases. In May, CombinatoRx received its first product patent, and published its approach to the discovery of multicomponent therapeutics in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in June. Under Mr. Borisy's leadership, the Company has raised over $60 million in venture capital and now employs more than 60 people.

About CombinatoRx

CombinatoRx, a privately held pharmaceutical company, is creating new combination medicines that attack disease on multiple fronts. The company has an impressive clinical and preclinical pipeline of novel agents, including treatments in development for cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, and has ongoing research in respiratory, metabolic, and infectious diseases. CombinatoRx invented the industry's first combination drug discovery platform to generate new medicines, based upon new insights into disease networks, in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Founded in 2000 by leading scientists from Harvard and MIT, the company has raised $60M in venture capital and is executing on its business strategy to rapidly build and commercialize a portfolio of breakthrough products. For further information please visit the CombinatoRx web-site at http://www.combinatorx.com

About Technology Review Inc.

Technology Review Inc., an MIT Enterprise, delivers essential information about emerging technologies on the verge of commercialization. Since 1998, paid circulation for the company's magazine, Technology Review, has more than tripled, climbing from 92,000 to 315,000.

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