press release archive

Rigel Pharmaceuticals Appoints Hollings C. Renton to Board of Directors

South San Francisco, CA - January 21, 2004

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) today announced that Hollings C. Renton has been appointed to its board of directors to serve as a Class II director until Rigel's 2005 annual stockholder meeting. Mr. Renton has served as the Chairman of the Board at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ONXX) since June of 2000 and as President and Chief Executive Officer since March of 1993. Mr. Renton also serves as a member of the board of Cepheid. Mr. Renton will employ his vast experience building and managing biopharmaceutical companies to help guide and sustain Rigel's growth.

Prior to joining Onyx, Mr. Renton was the President and Chief Operating Officer of Chiron Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. He assumed the position in 1991, after Chiron's acquisition of Cetus Corporation, where he had served as President since 1990 and Chief Operating Officer since 1987.

"During his tenure at Chiron Corporation and Onyx Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Renton has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities as well as a deep understanding of the opportunities and challenges faced by evolving pharmaceutical companies," said James M. Gower, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Rigel. "His expertise and extensive industry experience will be invaluable as Rigel advances drug candidates through clinical trials and establishes itself as a leader in the biopharmaceutical industry."

"Rigel has made great strides in the identification of potential drug targets," said Mr. Renton. "I look forward to working with the company through its next phase of growth: helping Rigel bring drugs in asthma/allergy, rheumatoid arthritis and hepatitis to market."

Mr. Renton also serves on the board of directors of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) and Special Olympics Northern California. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a B.S. in mathematics from Colorado State University.

About Rigel ( http://www.rigel.com )
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 two product candidates, R112 for allergic rhinitis and R803 for hepatitis C, and plans to begin clinical trials of two additional drug candidates, for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and asthma, by the end of 2004.

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," "believes" and similar expressions are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Rigel's results and plans to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including risks associated with the timing and success of clinical trials, 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 September 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.