For Immediate Release

SYRRX COMPLETES $54 MILLION PRIVATE PLACEMENT

January 8, 2001

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Syrrx, Inc., a leader in the field of structural proteomics, expects to announce today at the JP Morgan H&Q conference that it will close a $54 million Series C round of venture financing tomorrow. The private placement was led by Lombard Odier & Cie and included Bay City Capital, Chemicals and Materials Enterprise Associates (CMEA), CIBC, Cooper Hill, Invesco Global Health Science Fund, Jaspers, Joe Lewis, MPM Asset Management, Versant Ventures, Wanger Asset Management, and Alex Zaffaroni.

"We are extremely pleased with the results of this financing effort and delighted to receive continued endorsement from our investors," said Dr. Wendell Wierenga, Syrrx's Chief Executive Officer. "This round of financing will enable Syrrx to deepen its commitment to industrializing protein structure determination with breakthrough technologies and add important competencies that will enable us to forward integrate to become a drug discovery company."

Earlier this month, Syrrx announced the formation of a strategic alliance with the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) for the co-development of novel tools to transform the science of structural biology into an industrial process. Together, Syrrx and GNF have invented a series of new approaches and technologies to bypass classical bottlenecks in protein structure determination. Syrrx's factory approach exploits automation to streamline protein structure determination, enabling the determination of atomic resolution protein structures more reliably and economically than previously considered possible. This technology platform is used in combination with computational approaches to rapidly identify potent drugs with fewer side effects.

"This financing - one of the largest in the field of structural proteomics - positions Syrrx to deliver on the promise of their business plan," said Sam Colella, Managing Director of Versant Ventures and Chairman of Syrrx's Board of Directors.

San Diego-based Syrrx, Inc. uses its proprietary capabilities to rapidly generate protein structures from genetic information and then uses these protein structures to identify drug candidates. This process enables a unique "gene to drug" platform based on the ability to perform high-throughput, rational drug discovery.

Syrrx has raised more than $79 million to date from a variety of investors. The company is located in a 15,000 square foot facility in San Diego and currently has 50 employees. Syrrx recently began construction of an 84,000 square foot facility, which it will occupy in January 2002.

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