Ambit Biosciences Adds Kinase Experts to Scientific Advisory Board and Expands Board of Directors

SAN DIEGO – (BUSINESS WIRE) – March 7, 2006 – Ambit Biosciences today announced the appointment of Nicholas Lydon, Ph.D., David Armistead, Ph.D., and Ed Roberts, Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board. The company also announced that Dr. Lydon and Wendell Wierenga, Ph.D., have joined Ambit's Board of Directors.

"The expansion of our Scientific Advisory Board provides Ambit with access to some of the most experienced kinase researchers in the drug development industry," said Scott Salka, Chief Executive Officer of Ambit. "Additionally, Wendell's expertise in both corporate and clinical development comes at a key time as Ambit continues to expand our partnering activities and prepares to begin clinical trials with our lead kinase inhibitor for the treatment of cancer."

Dr. Lydon brings more than 15 years of experience in the discovery and development of kinase inhibitors to the Ambit team and is known for his discovery and preclinical development of Gleevec™, the blockbuster kinase inhibitor for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST). Lydon previously served as Vice President of Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Research Informatics at Amgen, Inc., where he oversaw research in medicinal chemistry, modeling, screening and many other departments. Prior to joining Amgen, he founded and served as President and CEO for Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, which focused on accelerating the discovery and optimization of selective kinase inhibitors. Lydon managed the acquisition of Kinetix by Amgen after just three years of operations. Prior to founding Kinetix, Lydon was Program Team Leader for Tyrosine Protein Kinase Inhibitors at CIBA-GEIGY/Novartis AG, where his team discovered and developed Gleevec™. Lydon is the recipient of numerous awards for his work in cancer research and his discovery of Gleevec™. He earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Medical Sciences Institute of the University of Dundee in Scotland and his B.S. from the University of Leeds in England.

"The approval of Gleevec™ in 2001 represented a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer, yet we are really just starting to see the full promise of small molecule kinase inhibitors as targeted therapies for cancer and other important diseases," said Lydon. "While many first-generation kinase inhibitors focused on a small number of targets, Ambit's KinomeScan kinase profiling technology and panel of 234 high-throughput kinase assays have enabled them to produce numerous small molecule kinase inhibitors with both potency and selectivity for a variety of targets. I look forwarding to helping the Ambit team advance these promising treatments into clinical development in the coming year."

Dr. Armistead joins Ambit from Amgen Inc. and contributes more than 15 years of experience in pharmaceutical research, where his work has led to the identification of several drugs currently in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. As Vice President for Research and Site Head of Amgen's Cambridge Research Center, Armistead oversaw all of Amgen's east coast research activities. Prior to joining Amgen, Armistead co-founded and served as Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer for Kinetix Pharmaceuticals, where he researched the rational design of selective kinase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammation and cancer. Armistead was also a founding member of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he served in various positions including Project Head for Immunosuppressive Research and Development. He has also held positions at Merck Sharp and Dohme Research Laboratories (Merck and Co., Inc.) and Yale University. Armistead earned his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of South Carolina and his M.S. and B.A. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute.

Dr. Roberts contributes extensive experience in the development of drugs to treat disorders of the central nervous system, which he has studied both in the pharmaceutical industry at Hoffmann-La Roche, Astra (now AstraZeneca), and the Parke-Davis Neuroscience Research Centre at Addenbrookes Hospital and in academia. He currently serves as Professor of Translational Chemistry and Medicine at the Scripps Research Institute, and he previously served as Chief Scientific Officer of biotechnology company Kemia, which specializes in small molecule kinase inhibitors. Roberts was also previously senior Vice President and Head of Discovery Chemistry for F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel. He has served on governmental committees and was a Professor at Montreal's McGill University. He is currently a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. An author and inventor on numerous original scientific articles and patents, Roberts earned his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and his B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of Sussex, both in England.

Dr. Wierenga brings more than 30 years of biotechnology and pharmaceutical experience to the Ambit board. He currently serves as Executive Vice President, Research and Development at Neurocrine Biosciences and holds board of directors and scientific advisory board positions at several life science companies. Previously, he served as Chief Executive Officer of Syrrx, Inc. (now Takeda San Diego) and as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Pharmaceutical Sciences, Technologies and Development at Parke-Davis/Warner Lambert (now Pfizer), where he was responsible for worldwide drug development. Prior to joining Parke-Davis, Wierenga spent 16 years at Upjohn Pharmaceuticals, where he led cancer and infectious diseases research and later drug discovery research. He led/participated in the research and development of more than 60 INDs, 10 NDAs and 10 marketed products, including Lipitor(R) and Neurontin(R). Wierenga earned his Ph.D. in chemistry from Stanford University and completed an American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship at Stanford. He earned his B.A. from Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

About Ambit Biosciences Ambit Biosciences is a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. Ambit plans to initiate clinical trials with its kinase inhibitor for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2006. Ambit's proprietary kinase profiling technology, KinomeScan, is designed to be integrated across all stages of the drug discovery and development process and has been validated through collaborations with Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and others. Ambit has raised a total of more than $56 million from investors including Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, Forward Ventures, Roche Venture Fund, Avalon Ventures, GIMV NV, MDS Capital, Genechem and Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.

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