press release archive

Rigel to Present at CIBC World Markets Health Care Conference on November 4

SOUTH SAN FRANCSICO, Calif. - October 29, 2002

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) to present at the CIBC World Markets Health Care Conference on Monday, November 4, 2002, at 8:00 a.m. EST at The Plaza Hotel in New York City. Brian Cunningham, president and chief operating officer, will update the investment community on Rigel's business and clinical development efforts, including progress on all three of the company's lead drug development programs and plans for the next phase of testing for R112, a new type of drug for allergic rhinitis that Rigel recently moved into the clinic.

Rigel's presentation will be webcast and can be accessed by going to the Investor Resources page of the company's website: www.rigel.com.

About Rigel (www.rigel.com)

Rigel's mission is to become a source of novel, small-molecule drugs to meet large, unmet medical needs. The company’s business model is to develop a portfolio of drug candidates and to take these through phase II clinical trials, after which Rigel intends to seek commercialization partners for completion of clinical evaluation, regulatory approval and marketing. Rigel has identified three areas for its lead product research programs: mast cell activation to treat asthma/allergy, an antiviral agent to treat hepatitis C and ubiquitin ligases for cancer. Rigel has begun clinical testing of its first product, for allergic rhinitis, and plans to follow this with two additional drugs in the clinic by the end of 2003. Rigel's approach to drug discovery is based on advanced, proprietary functional genomics techniques that allow the company to identify targets with a demonstrable role in a disease pathway and to efficiently screen for those that are likely to be amenable to drug modulation.

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to Rigel's business strategy, drug development programs and clinical trial plans. 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 "plans," "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Rigel's results to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including the risks detailed from time to time in Rigel's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001. Rigel does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

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