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September 24, 2007 – Phase Ib trial with WX-671 in patients with head & neck cancer successfully completed

Munich, 24 September 2007. The Munich-based biopharmaceutical company WILEX AG (ISIN DE0006614720 / Frankfurt Stock Exchange / Prime Standard) announced today that it has successfully completed a Phase Ib study with its drug candidate WX-671 in patients with head & neck cancer. The study in 18 patients was conducted in several centres in Germany. The drug candidate WX-671 was administered in different doses to patients for 15 days before surgery.

The compound was safe and well tolerated at all dose levels tested. The study demonstrated that the orally administered prodrug WX-671 is converted into the active compound WX-UK1. Bioanalytical tests of the tissue from the surgically removed tumour showed for the first time that significant concentrations of the active metabolite WX-UK1 could be achieved in the tumour tissue. WX-671 is being developed as part of the Company’s urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator inhibitor programme (“uPA programme”). Currently, WX-671 is being studied in a clinical Phase II trial in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Paul Bevan, Head of R&D and Member of the Executive Management at WILEX AG remarked: “This study is an important step in our uPA development programme. The demonstration that once daily oral doses WX-671 delivers adequate concentrations of active WX-UK1 in tumour tissues in patients is a significant milestone.”

About the uPA programme
WILEX’s late stage multi-product portfolio includes two drug candidates, WX-UK1 and WX-671, which are being developed as part of the Company’s urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator inhibitor programme (“uPA programme”). In this programme WILEX is developing various compounds that inhibit the uPA system. The uPA system plays a key role in the growth, spread and metastasis of various malignant tumours. The Company expects that drug candidates which emerge from the uPA programme may be used for the treatment of patients with tumours such as breast, pancreatic, ovarian, gastric and colon cancer.

About WILEX
WILEX is a biopharmaceutical Company based in Munich founded in 1997 by a team of physicians and oncologists from the Technical University of Munich. WILEX is focused on the development of new cancer therapies based on antibodies and small molecules. The therapeutic approach of WILEX targets the prevention of growth, spread and the metastasis of malignant tumours and the destruction of malignant tumours in the body. The late stage multi-product portfolio includes both drug and medical product candidates ranging from research to late stage clinical development. Currently the following compounds are in clinical development: WX-G250 (development name: RENCAREX®), WX-671, WX-UK1 and CA9-SCAN. The company’s strategy is to develop WILEX into a commercially successful biopharmaceutical company with a broad portfolio of new drugs and medical products for the treatment of cancer. WILEX AG is listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the Official Market Segment (Amtlicher Markt) / Prime Standard.

  

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