( Encouraging Results Prompted Phase 2 St...)Ceregene Presents Long Term Follow-Up Data From Phase 1 Trial of,CERE-120 Demonstrating Improved Motor Function in Parkinson's,Patients,Health

SAN DIEGO, Calif., April 16, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Ceregene, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today presented long term follow-up data from a Phase 1 clinical trial of CERE-120, a gene therapy product in development for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, demonstrating a 36 percent (p<0.001) reduction in Parkinson's symptoms at 12 months after administration, as measured by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) motor "off" score ("motor off" meaning patients were off Parkinson's medication at evaluation time). CERE-120 was also shown to be well tolerated in this study. The 12-month results were presented today by Philip Starr, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) annual meeting in Washington D.C. These data were also highlighted by the AANS in a specific CERE-120 press release issued by the Association.

The Phase 1 trial was an open-label study conducted in 12 patients with advanced Parkinson's disease at two clinical trial sites -- University of California, San Francisco and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. All 12 patients enrolled in the study underwent stereotactic neurosurgery to deliver CERE-120 into their putamen -- a region of the brain affected by the degeneration of neurons in Parkinson's disease.

CERE-120 was delivered at two different doses, and patients receiving the low dose demonstrated approximately 36 percent improvement in UPDRS motor "off" scores by nine months and patients receiving the four-fold higher dose showed a similar effect three months sooner. This statistically significant, 36 percent improvement was maintained in both groups at the 12-month mark, the final follow-up time point in the study. Patients also demonstrated a 50 percent reduction in hours of "
'"/>