press release archive

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Appoints Robin Cooper, Ph.D., D.Sc., Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Sciences

South San Francisco, CA - October 07, 2003

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (NASDAQ: RIGL) today announced the appointment of Robin Cooper, Ph.D., D.Sc., as Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Dr. Cooper will lead Rigel’s pharmaceutical sciences efforts and use his vast experience to help move drug candidates into clinical trials.

Dr. Cooper joins Rigel after an extensive career working with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Throughout his more than 30-year career at Eli Lilly and Company, Dr. Cooper held various chemistry development research positions, successfully bringing five compounds to the clinic. He was important in creating Lilly’s preeminent position in anti-infectives, which included the discovery, development and marketing of Keflex tm, Keflin tm, Cefzole tm, mandol, tazidime, Ceclor tm, moxalactam (in collaboration with Shionogi & Co., Ltd.), vancomycin, daptomycin and the antifungal anidulafungin (now licensed to Vicuron Pharmaceuticals Inc.). He is also the discoverer of the anti-infective oritavancin, which was licensed to InterMune, Inc. and is presently in phase III trials. Dr. Cooper served on a number of discovery research/management groups, which evaluated Lilly’s research direction and strategic goals. From 1985-1997, Dr. Cooper also served as the discovery representative for various committees in support of external relationships and supported Lilly’s corporate patent strategy.

“Robin is an industry veteran whose expertise helps solidify Rigel’s execution, assuring that more and better drug candidates move into clinical trial,” said James M. Gower, Chairman and CEO of Rigel. “His experience identifying and developing small molecule drugs will be invaluable to our research efforts. Having successfully completed a phase I/II clinical trial of R112, we look forward to Robin’s leadership as Rigel expects to initiate clinical trials in hepatitis C later this year and in rheumatoid arthritis and asthma next year.”

“I am very impressed with Rigel’s ability to translate biological knowledge into small molecule drug candidates with an extraordinary high level of productivity,” stated Dr. Cooper. “The major reason that I considered this opportunity was the excellent quality of the science at Rigel. I am looking forward to helping accelerate Rigel’s pharmaceutical drug development efforts.”

Since 1997, Dr. Cooper has leveraged his extensive knowledge and expertise by providing consulting services for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Pfizer Inc, Procter & Gamble, Chiron Corporation, IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Vicuron, as well as for Rigel. He will continue to serve as a consultant to Rigel until he formally transitions to his new Rigel position, anticipated to occur by year-end.

He has 39 patents issued to his credit and has authored over 50 scientific publications and book chapters. He is a member of the American Chemical Society, a fellow with the Chemical Society in London and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Antibiotics. Dr. Cooper has also served as a journal reviewer for numerous peer-reviewed publications.

Dr. Cooper earned his B.Sc. from Imperial College in London, England, where he graduated with honors. He received his Ph.D. in 1962 from Queen Mary College/Imperial College, followed by a year with Nobel Laureate Sir Derek Barton in London. He was awarded his D.Sc. by the University of London in 1985.

About Rigel
Rigel’s mission is to become a source of novel, small-molecule drugs to meet large, unmet medical needs. Rigel has identified three lead product development programs: mast cell inhibition to treat immunologic diseases such as asthma/allergy and autoimmune disorders, antiviral agents to treat hepatitis C, and ligases, a new class of cancer drug targets. Rigel has begun clinical testing of its first product candidate, R112 for allergic rhinitis, and it plans to begin clinical trials of three additional drug candidates by the end of 2004. (www.rigel.com)

This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including statements related to the timing and subject matter of future clinical trials. 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,” “expects,” “anticipates” 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 risks associated with the timing and success of clinical trials and the commercialization of product candidates, as well as other risks, detailed from time to time in Rigel’s SEC reports, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2003 and Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the year ended December 31, 2002. Rigel does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

For additional information:
Melinda Bagatelos or Ayanna Smith
Schwartz Communications, Inc.
415-512-0770
rigel@schwartz-pr.com

Raul Rodriguez
Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
650-624-1302
rrodriguez@rigel.com