press release archive

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Appoints Susan Scher, M.D., to New Post of V.P., Strategic Relations

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 30, 2002

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: RIGL) has named Susan Scher, M.D., to the newly created position of vice president, strategic relations. Dr. Scher will be responsible for directing Rigel's investor and public relations efforts.

"Rigel is committed to maintaining an ongoing and productive dialogue with all of our audiences," said Brian Cunningham, president and chief operating officer. "We believe this is particularly important now that we're moving into the next stage of our corporate development and becoming a clinical products company. With her rare mix of medical knowledge and extensive communications experience, Susan will help ensure that we reach our constituencies in a very effective and informed manner."

For the past 10 years, Dr. Scher ran Scher Communications Consultants, a medical marketing and communications firm specializing in small to midsize health care companies. Earlier in her career, she worked at Burson-Marsteller, where she most recently served as vice president, client services, and manager of biotech communications. Prior to transitioning to industry, Dr. Scher received her medical degree from Boston University.

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 immunologic diseases such as asthma/allergy and autoimmune disorders, an antiviral agent to treat hepatitis C, and ubiquitin ligases, a new class of cancer drug target. 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 "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," and similar expressions are intended to identify 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, which include the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001. Rigel does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.