Kereos presents at AAAS, discusses nanotech-based disease diagnosis and treatment

This year's American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting February 16-20, 2006 in St. Louis will highlight the growing field of nanotechnology. Mounting excitement about the potential of nanotechnology in life science applications has recently been evidenced by President Bush's State of the Union proposal to double Federal funding over the next 10 years for programs in physical sciences such as nanotech, and by the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) five-year, $144.3 million initiative to integrate nanotechnology into cancer research, diagnosis and treatment. Additionally, the recent American Cancer Society report citing early detection as one of the factors in the first ever annual decline in deaths from cancer underscores the importance of new approaches, such as the use of nanotechnology, to early cancer diagnosis.

St. Louis biotechnology company Kereos is developing one of the most advanced programs using nanotechnology to diagnose and treat cancer and will begin human clinical trials by the end of 2006. Kereos' technology can detect solid tumors of only 1-2 mm in size and is so highly targeted that it can deliver 20-times the chemotherapeutic concentration to the tumor using only 1% of the standard dose. Kereos is also developing its technology for the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular disease and presented some of the first data regarding the application of nanotechnology to indications such as atherosclerosis, restenosis and peripheral vascular disease at the American Heart Association 2005 Scientific Sessions. This technology was developed at Washington University in St. Louis, one of the NCI's designated Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

Kereos President and CEO Robert A. Beardsley, Ph.D., will be presenting during the AAAS Annual Meeting on a panel entitled "Science & Engineering Entrepreneurship: Opportunities for the Future" at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, February 17, 2006. Beardsley has led several biotechnology companies and has held life science venture capital and investment banking positions. Both Beardsley and Kereos Vice President of Biology Allen Nickols, Ph.D., are available for media interviews throughout the AAAS Annual Meeting. Nickols previously served as Director of Pharmacology and Science Fellow at Pfizer Global Research & Development and has held several pharmaceutical and academic appointments.

For additional information or to schedule an interview, please contact: Trista Morrison at 858-527-3490 or tmorrison@pnlifesciences.com or Jennifer MacArthur at 858-527-3497 or jmacarthur@pnlifesciences.com.

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