Cytokinetics Announces Technology Development Collaboration with AstraZeneca Focused on Predictive Toxicity

Alliance Leverages Cytometrix™ Cellular Phenotyping Technologies

South San Francisco, CA and London, UK, - December 18, 2003

Cytokinetics, Inc. announced today that it has entered into an exclusive collaboration with AstraZeneca to develop automated imaging-based cellular phenotyping and analysis technologies for the in vitro prediction of hepatotoxicity. The companies have agreed to commit internal resources and combine efforts aimed at addressing an important inflection point in the pharmaceutical discovery and development process. Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will fund technology development activities at Cytokinetics over a two-year research term. The agreement further provides for a milestone payment and annual licensing fees to be paid to Cytokinetics upon the Cytometrix™ Hepatotoxicity Module successfully achieving certain agreed-upon performance criteria.

"Under this collaboration, we have the potential to develop new technologies that may systematically and reliably predict toxic and non-toxic pharmacophores,” stated Jay Trautman, Ph.D., Cytokinetics' Vice President of Technology. “AstraZeneca has decades of molecular toxicology and pathology experience. By combining this expertise with Cytokinetics’ validated cellular phenotyping technologies, we have an opportunity to together bring forward an application module of the Cytometrix™ technologies that may deliver productivity gains for each of our later-stage discovery and pre-clinical development processes.”

AstraZeneca's Vice President and Global Head of Safety Assessment, Peter Moldeus, Ph.D., stated, "Complications associated with toxicity are a major challenge for the pharmaceutical industry, as these toxicities often result in a project’s failure after substantial investments have already been made. Diminishing the risks associated with toxicity by identifying a compound's off-target liabilities earlier could significantly increase our development success. We believe that Cytokinetics' Cytometrix™ cellular phenotyping technologies have potential to help AstraZeneca remain at the forefront of research in this area.”

Cytometrix™ Technologies

The collaboration will leverage Cytokinetics’ proprietary platform, Cytometrix™ cellular phenotyping technologies, which are routinely utilized in Cytokinetics’ screening processes to analyze both on-target and off-target effects of candidate compounds. Cytometrix™ cellular phenotyping technologies utilize cell-based assays to create digital phenotypic profiles (“fingerprints”) representative of diverse molecular mechanisms of drug action. Cytometrix™ fingerprints detail information on the potency and specificity of a compound or drug-related toxicities. Cytokinetics presently employs Cytometrix™ cellular phenotyping technologies to eliminate compounds of mixed mechanism, allowing the company to focus its medicinal chemistry and pharmacology resources more selectively on higher-quality chemical series. This collaboration with AstraZeneca is designed to develop a new Cytometrix™ technologies application called the Cytometrix™ Hepatotoxicity Module for the in vitro prediction of hepatotoxicities downstream of screening.

About Cytokinetics

Founded in 1998 and privately held, Cytokinetics is dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of a novel class of therapeutics resulting from its leadership position in the emerging field of cytoskeletal pharmacology. The cytoskeleton is a complex, dynamic framework that impacts all aspects of cell function including cell division, cell motility, intracellular transport, muscle contractility and regulation of cellular organization. Cytokinetics' R&D efforts aim to address pharmaceutical needs in cancer, cardiovascular and infectious diseases and feature proprietary Cytometrix™ cellular phenotyping technologies designed to industrialize cell biology for increased speed and productivity in drug discovery and development. Cytokinetics and GlaxoSmithKline have entered into a broad strategic collaboration to discover, develop and commercialize novel small molecule therapeutics targeting mitotic kinesins for applications in the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Cytokinetics and GlaxoSmithKline are conducting Phase I studies with the first novel anti-cancer drug candidate emerging from the collaboration and intend to expand clinical development upon completion of these studies. Additional information about Cytokinetics can be obtained at www.cytokinetics.com.