Quark Pharmaceuticals to Present at American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental...

Quark Pharmaceuticals to Present at American Society for Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics Annual Meeting

FREMONT, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a
development-stage pharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel RNA
interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics, today announced that James D.
Thompson, Ph.D., Vice President, Pharmaceutical Development, will give a
presentation on Tuesday, April 20 at this year's American Society for
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET) Annual Meeting, which is
taking place from April 18-22, 2009 in New Orleans.

Dr. Thompson's presentation will be part of a session titled "Discovery and
Development of Oligonucleotide Therapeutics," which is sponsored by ASPET's
Divisions for Drug Discovery, Drug Development & Regulatory Affairs and
Molecular Pharmacology. His talk will be on the past, present, and future of
oligonucleotide therapeutics. Other leaders in RNAi will also present during
the session including: Pamela A. Pavco, Vice President of Pharmaceutical
Development at RXi Pharmaceuticals (topic: Special issues in the discovery and
development of RNAi therapeutics); Christina Gamba-Vitalo, Senior Director
Preclinical Development at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (topic: Progress in
developing siRNAs as drugs); and Patrick L. Iversen, Senior Vice President of
Strategic Alliances and former Senior Vice President of Research and
Development at AVI BioPharma (topic: Pharmacokinetics of oligonucleotide
therapeutics).

Daniel Zurr, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Quark, said, "We
are pleased with Quark's participation in this session alongside respected
leaders in RNAi development. The invitation reinforces that the drug
development industry recognizes Quark's leadership position in siRNA
development. Some of the Company's accomplishments include: a number of
on-going clinical trials of synthetic siRNAs in various disease indications,
status as the first company to administer a synthetic siRNA systemically in
humans, an, enabling portfolio of IP covering synthetic siRNAs and validating
partnerships with companies such as Pfizer."

Dr. Thompson has been a leader in siRNA development for several years. Prior
to joining Quark, he was Director of Research and Development at Genta, and
previously was Director of Biology Research at Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, which
was acquired by Merck after changing its name to Sirna Therapeutics.

About Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a development-stage pharmaceutical company
engaged in discovering and developing novel RNAi-based therapeutics. Quark has
a fully integrated drug development platform that spans therapeutic target
identification to drug development. Quark's RNAi technology includes novel
siRNA structures and chemistry providing Quark with freedom to operate in the
siRNA intellectual property arena, as well as the ability for non-invasive
delivery of siRNA to other target tissues including the eye, ear, lung, spinal
cord and brain.

PF-4523655 (RTP801i-14), currently in Phase II clinical trials, is a
synthetic, chemically modified siRNA designed to inhibit the expression of the
gene RTP801 discovered by Quark through the gene discovery platform BiFAR.
PF-4523655 is licensed to Pfizer. In addition, Quark's current clinical
pipeline includes QPI-1002, the first systemically administered siRNA drug in
human clinical trials, developed by Quark for the prevention of acute kidney
injury (AKI) following major cardiac surgery and of delayed graft function in
kidney transplantation. For the structure of these products Quark has licenses
from Silence Therapeutics and from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

QPI-1007, a siRNA that utilizes a proprietary structure developed by Quark, is
being evaluated in advanced IND-enabling preclinical studies as a
neuroprotective agent for eye diseases. In addition, Quark has a broad
pipeline of siRNA drug candidates based on novel structures developed
internally. The Company expects to utilize the structures to develop
additional RNAi drug candidates.

Quark is headquartered in Fremont, California and operates research and
development facilities in Boulder, Colorado and Ness-Ziona, Israel. Additional
information is available at www.quarkpharma.com

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The Ruth Group (investors / media)
Juliana Friedman Sara Ephraim / Janine McCargo
+972 89 30 5111 (646) 536-7004 / 7033
jfriedman@quarkpharma.com sephraim@theruthgroup.com
jmccargo@theruthgroup.com

SOURCE Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Juliana Friedman of Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., +972-89-30-5111,
jfriedman@quarkpharma.com; or The Ruth Group (investors and media), Sara
Ephraim, +1-646-536-7004, sephraim@theruthgroup.com, or Janine McCargo,
+1-646-536-7033, jmccargo@theruthgroup.com, both for Quark Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.