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Rigel Announces Fourth Quarter and Year End 2001 Financial Results

South San Francisco, CA - February 05, 2002

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2001.

The Company reported revenues from collaborations of $4.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared to $3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2000.

Operating expenses were $11.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared to $9.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2000. Net loss was $6.1 million, or $0.16 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2001 compared to net loss of $5.8 million, or $0.18 per pro forma share, in the same period last year.

For the year ended December 31, 2001, Rigel reported revenues from research collaborations of $15.3 million compared to $13.2 million in 2000. Total operating expenses were $40.3 million in 2001 compared to $38.7 million in 2000. For the year ended December 31, 2001, the Company reported a net loss of $23.8 million, or $0.64 per share, compared to net loss of $25.4 million, or $0.86 per pro forma share, in 2000.

As of December 31, 2001, Rigel had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of $33.4 million compared to $53.0 million at December 31, 2000.

Rigel recently announced in January 2002 the completion of a public offering that raised net proceeds of $29.4 million bringing the Company's cash reserves to over $60 million. The Company intends to use the proceeds for research and development and general corporate purposes.

"In 2001, we achieved numerous milestones and advanced our collaborations with each of our pharmaceutical partners, which we believe demonstrates the value of Rigel's unique technology platform and approach," said James M. Gower, Chairman and CEO of Rigel. "We also moved our proprietary research programs forward and anticipate filing our first IND with a compound from our mast cell program this summer. We expect this IND to be the first of several compounds to enter the clinic over the next couple of years."

The Company estimates revenues of $18 - $22 million in 2002 resulting from existing collaborations and the anticipated commencement of new research and development collaborations. 2002 operating expenses are anticipated to increase to approximately $50 - $55 million due primarily to the increased research and development costs associated with the advancement of the Company's proprietary programs and the intended commencement of clinical trials in 2002.

Rigel Pharmaceuticals (www.rigel.com) is a drug discovery and development company that uses advanced functional genomics tools to discover novel drug targets that can be used to develop orally administered small molecule drugs. Rigel's technology is designed to identify molecules that play an important role in regulating a human cell's response to disease by testing a very large number of proteins in a very large number of cells to determine which proteins will change the cell's response to the disease. Rigel expects to begin clinical trials during 2002 with one or more new drug candidates identified from the current 10 product development programs in the areas of asthma/allergy, autoimmunity, transplant rejection, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic bronchitis, cancerous tumor growth and hepatitis C. Rigel has collaborations with Pfizer Inc., Cell Genesys, Inc., Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development, L.L.C. and Novartis Pharma A.G. Rigel is based in South San Francisco, California.

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the Company's plans to commence clinical trials in 2002, the Company's anticipated 2002 revenues and operating expenses and the Company's intent to enter into additional research collaborations. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of the Company to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including the risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000, as amended, and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.