Durham, NC– August 10, 2004 – Merix Bioscience, a company pioneering therapeutic immunotherapy vaccines, announced today that Lothar Finke, M.D., and Doug Winship, vice president of clinical development and vice president of quality and regulatory affairs, respectively, have joined the company. In addition, Merix welcomes Michel Gréco and Richard Meadows to their board of directors.

“Coming on the heels of two very lucrative and strategic industry partnerships, we’re now expanding our business leadership so we can more aggressively pursue development of cutting-edge personalized immunotherapies,” said Clint Dederick, chairman and CEO of Merix. “We look forward to these individuals helping us to achieve significant future clinical and regulatory objectives as we move forward in numerous anti-cancer and anti-viral applications on a world wide basis.”

Dr. Finke joins Merix from EMD Pharmaceuticals, and has also worked with Merck KGaA, the Max-Delbrueck-Center for Molecular Medicine and the Basel Institute for Immunology, and Ruprecht-Carls University of Heidelberg. He has a medical degree and doctorate from Philipps-University of Marburg in Lahn, Germany. Dr. Finke’s thorough expertise involves nine years of biotech oncology development practice, six years of clinical experience in surgical oncology, and 10 years of molecular and cell-biology research.

Mr. Winship has held a number of positions, including executive officer, with corporations such as CEL-SCI Corp., Curative Technologies Revlon Health Care Group. He has been involved I over 35 INDs, and 12 NDAs/PLAs in his career. Mr. Winship has established Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance departments at a VC-backed company and has successfully managed the development of SOP and documentation systems, which have withstood the scrutiny of numerous FDA inspections. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Upsala College in New Jersey.

The new members to Merix’s board of directors also bring vast experience in healthcare and biomedical industry.

In addition to Merix, Michel Gréco is a board member of several public and private companies and international institutions, and advisor to the World Health Organization for vaccine research. He has worked in the pharmaceutical division of the French group Rhône Poulenc and at Institut Mérieux, a leading vaccine company based in Lyon, France, whose name later changed to

Pasteur Merieux Connaught (“PMC”), then Aventis Pasteur following the acquisition of Pasteur Vaccins (France) and Connaught Laboratories (“US and Canada”). He was CEO of a European joint venture between PMC and Merck, then President and COO of Aventis Pasteur until 2003. Among numerous vaccine-related articles, Gréco recently wrote a chapter of “New Generation Vaccines,” 3rd edition.

Richard Meadows is a partner with CDP Capital Technology Ventures, contributing his industry knowledge as the company makes new investments in promising biomedical companies. Prior to CDP, he served as president and CEO of the first Canadian start-up in wound care. He has also facilitated and developed strategies for a spin off of the National Research Council, Institute of Biomedical Engineering of the University of Toronto as well as a new Canadian R&D facility for Cheril Jedang Pharma of Seoul, Korea. Mr. Meadows spent almost 20 years in various senior positions in the pharmaceutical industry working for the likes of ASTRA, BRISTOL MYERS, and BURROUGHS WELLCOME.

Merix Bioscience, Inc. – a privately held company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina, and with additional operations in Erlangen, Germany and Amsterdam, the Netherlands – is dedicated to becoming a market leader in the field of immunotherapy. Utilizing proprietary technology and proven therapeutic methods and expertise in dendritic cell biology, Merix is developing the next generation of therapies in the areas of oncology, infectious diseases, autoimmune disorders and transplantation. Merix’s initial total tumor RNA-loaded dendritic cell vaccine is currently in a corporate Phase I/II clinical trial for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. For more information, please visit www.Merixbio.com.

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Editor Contact:
Merix Bioscience, Inc.
Bradd Pavur (Gibbs & Soell, Inc.)
Tel: 919-870-5718
bpavur@gibbs-soell.com

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