NEW HAVEN, CONN, March 13, 2000 -- Scientists from Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXN) and Yale University School of Medicine, both of New Haven, CT, today reported they have discovered that patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have severe inflammation including significant production of injurious complement components in their coronary arteries. The report was made at the Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology. Alexion's two C5 Complement Inhibitors, the humanized monoclonal antibody fragment 5G1.1-SC and the humanized monoclonal antibody 5G1.1, specifically block the production of harmful complement components and may be useful for treatment in this patient population.

"The current study demonstrates that harmful complement activation occurs specifically in the coronary arteries of patients with acute coronary syndrome," stated Michael W. Cleman, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director of the Interventional Cardiology Service at Yale, and co-author of the study. "While current therapies for ACS patients are directed at attempting to improve coronary blood flow with anti-platelet and anti-clotting agents, an increasingly prominent literature demonstrates that ACS patients may also suffer from severe inflammation. The current findings add significantly to these previous observations by demonstrating that severe and injurious complement activation occurs specifically in the coronary circulation and in the culprit coronary artery in patients with ACS."

In the findings presented by Dr. Cleman and his colleagues at Yale and Alexion, blood samples from 11 patients with acute coronary syndrome and four patients with stable angina were obtained in order to measure production of activated complement directly in the heart. In patients with ACS, the level of activated complement increased by approximately 70% (P=.06) in the heart. In the patients with stable angina, the level of activated complement
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Contact: Dr. Leonard Bell
BellL@alxn.com
203-776-1790
Noonan/Russo Communications
12-Mar-2000

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