press release archive

Rigel Announces Underwriters' Exercise of Option to Purchase Additional Shares

South San Francisco, CA - March 25, 2004

Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: RIGL) today announced that the underwriters of the public offering of the company’s common stock in February 2004 have exercised their option to purchase an additional 316,750 shares of Rigel common stock, to cover over-allotments, for sale at a public offering price of $20.00 per share. A total of 3,481,750 shares of Rigel common stock were sold in the offering, of which 3,135,075 were offered by Rigel and 346,675 were offered by selling stockholders.

Credit Suisse First Boston is acting as the lead manager for the offering. Needham & Company, Inc., Thomas Weisel Partners LLC and Fortis Securities Inc. are acting as co-managers of the offering.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities. This offering of shares of common stock may be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus. Copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying prospectus can be obtained from: Credit Suisse First Boston, One Madison Avenue, Prospectus Department, New York, New York 10010-3629 (Telephone number 212-325-2580).

About Rigel (www.rigel.com)
Rigel's mission is to become a source of novel, small-molecule drugs to meet large, unmet medical needs. Rigel has three initial clinical development programs: asthma/allergy, hepatitis C, and rheumatoid arthritis. 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 anticipated 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 "intends" and "plans" are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause Rigel's plans to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including risks associated with the timing of clinical trials, as well as other risks, detailed from time to time in Rigel's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003. Rigel does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.

Contact: Jim Welch
Chief Financial Officer
650-624-1176
invrel@rigel.com