Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) today announced that it has filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which will permit the company, from time to time, to offer and sell common stock, up to a value of $150 million. The company filed the registration statement to gain additional flexibility in accessing capital markets for general corporate purposes, including the continued development and manufacturing of the recently acquired rebeccamycin analogue in ongoing Phase I and I/II cancer studies, expansion of drug discovery capabilities and other corporate purposes.

The registration statement relating has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time that the registration statement becomes effective. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state.

A written prospectus, when available, meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933 may be obtained from Exelixis, Inc. at P. O. Box 511, South San Francisco, California 94083-0511.

Exelixis, Inc. is a leading worldwide genomics-based drug discovery company focused on product development through its expertise in comparative genomics and model system genetics. These technologies provide a rapid, efficient and cost effective way to move from DNA sequence data to knowledge about the function of genes and the proteins they encode. The company's technology is broadly applicable to all life sciences industries including pharmaceutical, diagnostic, agricultural biotechnology and animal health. Exelixis has partnerships with Aventis CropSciences, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Protein Design Labs and Dow AgroSciences and is building its internal development program in the area of oncology. For more information, please visit the company's web site at www.exelixis.com.