SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Mar 11, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) announces key management appointments that add significant depth and experience to the company's growing drug development organization. Kimberly J. Manhard has been appointed vice president, regulatory affairs, Harold Keer, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed director, clinical research and development, and Annie Fong, Ph.D., has been appointed director, development. All three executives will report to Jeffrey Latts, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer. These appointments advance Exelixis' strategy to establish an integrated preclinical, clinical and regulatory function and implement clinical programs for compounds emerging from its development portfolio.

"The addition of Kimberly, Harold and Annie to Exelixis' development group brings a strong infusion of knowledgeable and seasoned drug development experts with deep and diverse real-world experience," said Dr. Latts. "I am confident that their extensive talents will flourish within our company's environment of innovation, enabling us to optimize clinical development opportunities and effectively manage the challenging process of bringing new medicines to market. In the months ahead, we will continue adding professional staff to manage areas such as the production of investigational material, quality assurance, safety assessment, data collection and analysis. Our goal is to move quickly to complete the clinical development organization in order to maintain the rapid pace and quality of innovation established by the Exelixis research and drug discovery groups."

Kimberly J. Manhard joins Exelixis from Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she was responsible for global regulatory functions. Ms. Manhard led a regulatory organization at Agouron of more than 20 people and oversaw global issues of regulatory strategy, pharmacoviligence, quality assurance and regulatory submissions. She has more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and has participated in more than 15 IND submissions and at least six drug approvals for both small molecule and biological drugs primarily in the areas of antivirals and cancer. Ms. Manhard's prior pharmaceuticals company experience includes Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly & Co. She earned her B.S. in Zoology and B.A. in French from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

Harold N. Keer, M.D., Ph.D. is a Board certified medical oncologist who has extensive experience in clinical trial design and implementation in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and as a clinician and consultant. Most recently, Dr. Keer served as associate director of clinical development with Titan Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Keer received a B.A. in integrated science from Northwestern University and earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. His internship and residency were spent at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, his clinical fellowship was spent at Harvard Medical School, and his post-doctoral fellowship in medical oncology was spent at Stanford University Hospital and Medical School.

T. Annie T. Fong, Ph.D., has more than 15 years of pharmaceutical industry experience in research and development of therapeutics for inflammation, immunomodulation, oncology and cardiovascular indications, and has extensive experience in coordinating and implementing development activities for small molecules and protein therapies. Dr. Fong's past biopharmaceutical experience include SUGEN, Progenitor, Syntex Discovery Research, Collagen Corporation, and DNAX Research Institute of Molecular Biology and Immunology. She joins Exelixis from the Reitman Corporation, a strategic biopharmaceutical development firm, where she was the Executive Director. Dr. Fong holds a B.A. in Biology/Biochemistry from Occidental College and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Exelixis, Inc. is a leading 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 CropScience, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Protein Design Labs, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Scios Inc. Dow AgroSciences and Cytokinetics, Inc. 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.

    NOTE:  Exelixis and the Exelixis logo are registered U.S. trademarks.

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SOURCE Exelixis, Inc.

CONTACT:          Jane M. Green, Ph.D., VP, Corporate Communications of Exelixis,
                  Inc., +1-650 837-7579, or jmgreen@exelixis.com

URL:              http://www.exelixis.com
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