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Metabasis to Present at the American Chemical Society National Meeting in San Diego

Posted on: Friday, 11 March 2005, 09:00 CST

SAN DIEGO, March 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Metabasis Therapeutics , announced today that it will present at the 229th American Chemical Society (ACS) national meeting. Approximately 14,000 chemists and chemical engineers will be in San Diego March 13-17 for the ACS national meeting, which will include over 930 technical sessions.

Dr. Mark Erion, Executive Vice President of Research and Development for Metabasis, will present at the "First Time Disclosure of Clinical Candidates" session a talk titled, "MB06322 (CS-917): A Potent and Selective Inhibitor of Fructose 1,6-Bisphosphatase for Controlling Gluconeogenesis in Type 2 Diabetes" on Sunday, March 13, 2005. This presentation will describe Metabasis' efforts to find inhibitors for this enzyme using a structure-guided approach and the effects of the lead compound, MB06322, on endogenous glucose production from the liver and blood glucose levels in a preclinical model of diabetes. MB06322, also called CS-917, is currently being evaluated in human clinical trials to assess its potential for treating type 2 diabetes.

Dr. Qun "Max" Dang, Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry for Metabasis, will participate in a general session on medicinal chemistry on Thursday, March 17, 2005. Dr. Dang's presentation is titled, "Design, Synthesis and SAR of Novel Phosphonates as Potent and Selective FBPase Inhibitors with Oral Efficacy in Rodent Models of Type 2 Diabetes." This presentation will describe structure-activity relationships of Metabasis' lead inhibitor series and the glucose lowering activity of the lead compound, MB06322, in preclinical models of diabetes.

The American Chemical Society (http://www.chemistry.org/) is a nonprofit organization, chartered by the U.S. Congress, with a multidisciplinary membership of more than 159,000 chemists and chemical engineers. It publishes numerous scientific journals and databases, convenes major research conferences and provides educational, science policy and career programs in chemistry.

About Metabasis (http://www.mbasis.com)/

Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel small molecule drugs principally to treat metabolic diseases linked to pathways in the liver and to treat liver diseases. The Company has established a broad product pipeline targeting large markets with significant unmet medical needs. Metabasis has three internally discovered, novel product candidates in clinical development: CS-917, pradefovir and MB07133, indicated for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, hepatitis B and primary liver cancer, respectively. All three products are being studied in patients and preliminary evidence of efficacy has been demonstrated with CS-917 and pradefovir. Metabasis has developed several proprietary technologies for use in discovering and optimizing drugs, including the NuMimetic(TM) technology and the HepDirect(TM) technology. The NuMimetic technology was used to discover CS-917, a first-in-class gluconeogenesis inhibitor, and was also used to identify MB07803, a 2nd generation gluconeogenesis inhibitor that is expected to enter the clinic in 2005 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. The HepDirect technology, a liver- targeting prodrug technology, was used to develop pradefovir and MB07133 and is also being used in a partnership with Merck to discover new treatments for hepatitis C. Metabasis is continuing to identify and develop new product candidates using its proprietary technologies and know-how.

Metabasis Therapeutics

CONTACT: Julie Cunningham, Investor Relations & Corporate Communicationsof Metabasis Therapeutics, Inc., +1-858-622-3973

Web site: http://www.mbasis.com/http://www.chemistry.org/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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