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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Clarice Merrill, Direct Therapeutics Announces Completion Of Private Placement(Redwood City, CA, December 14, 2000) - Direct Therapeutics Inc., (DTI), a privately-held drug development company, today announced that it has successfully completed a private placement which will provide $6.0 million in working capital to DTI. This recent round of financing comes after the successful conversion of the outstanding Convertible Subordinated Promissory Notes issued in April 2000 totaling $2.0 million. These rounds of financing were led by VantagePoint Venture Partners (VantagePoint) (San Bruno, CA) and also included the participation of Loeb Partners Corporatioin (New York, NY). Both of these investment groups have participated in prior DTI financings. "We appreciate the confidence these current DTI investors have placed in us though their participation in these rounds of financing," said Edward E. Luck, President and Chief Executive Officer of DTI. "We intend to use the proceeds from this placement primarily to advance the clinical development of our DTI-015 product candidate for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the most common form of primary brain cancer, and to expand our product pipeline." "Therepeutic products such as those based on our technologies also may be useful in treating other primary cancers and certain metastatic cancers that are accessible by local injection by needles or catheters," said Mr. Luck. "Specifically, we also plan to use a portion of the proceeds to accelerate the development of our technology for the local and regional treatment of other cancers including melanoma, liver, lung, breast and prostate cancer." DTI-015 is currently in two Phase I/II trials in GBM patients. One of the trials is a multicenter, open-label Phase I/II study in patients who have a first GBM recurrence that cannot be removed surgically. This dose escalation study will assess the safety and activity of DTI-015 in up to 30 patients. The second trial will assess the safety and pharmacokinetics of DTI-015 administered just prior to surgical removal of recurrent GBM or metastatic tumors of the brain. DTI-015 is a unique product that contains the chemotherapeutic drug carmustine, also known as BCNU, dissolved in absolute ethanol. Solvent facilitated perfusion of BCNU enables the drug to enter both the aqueous and lipid compartments of the targeted tissue, thus achieving rapid drug saturation of the tumor and selective elimination of cancer cells. DTI-015 is administered by image-guided stereotactic injection directly into the tumor, maximizing therapeutic effect while minimizing systemic toxicity and surgical intervention. In addition to DTI-015, Direct Therapeutics is evaluating several product candidates that contain alternative chemotherapeutic agents and solvents. Direct Therapeutics, Inc. is a drug development company using its proprietary solvent facilitated perfusion technology to address the delivery and distribution of drugs for the localized and regional treatment of cancer. Its technology encompasses the development of new products containing anticancer drugs and certain organic solvents that facilitate the penetration of drug throughout tumor tissue and into tumor cells. Vantagepoint Venture Partners is one of the nation's largest and most active venture capital firms with more than $2.5 billion in committed capital. VantagePoint provides active assistance to new networking, communications, semiconductor and Internet infrastructure companies. VantagePoint is a full-service venture firm offering a unique blend of technology, venture funding, partnering, marketing, and corporate finance expertise. With offices in Silicon Valley and New York, VantagePoint is geography and stage-independent, providing capital from the seed stage through mezzanine rounds. VantagePoint was ranked #4 in Top 25 VC Firms of 1999 by Red Herring. |