OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Added to Russell Indexes

BOTHELL, WA, and VANCOUVER, June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - OncoGenex
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OGXI), a biopharmaceutical company committed to
the development and commercialization of new therapies that address unmet
needs in the treatment of cancer, announced today that the Company was added
to the Russell 3000(R) Index, the Russell 2000(R) Index and the Russell
Microcap(R) Index at the close of market on June 26, 2009 as part of the
annual reconstitution of Russell indexes.
The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the largest 3000 U.S.
companies representing approximately 98% of the investable U.S. equity market.
The Russell 3000 Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive, unbiased,
and stable barometer of the broad market and is completely reconstituted
annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected.
The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of the small-cap segment of
the U.S. equity universe. The Russell 2000 Index is a subset of the Russell
3000 Index representing approximately 10% of the total market capitalization
of that index. The Russell 2000 is constructed to provide a comprehensive and
unbiased small-cap barometer.
The Russell Microcap Index measures the performance of the microcap segment of
the U.S. equity market. It makes up less than 3% of the U.S. equity market. It
includes 1000 of the smallest securities in the small-cap Russell 2000(R)
Index. Russell Microcap Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive and
unbiased barometer for the microcap segment trading on national exchanges,
while excluding lesser-regulated OTC bulletin board securities and pink-sheet
stocks due to their failure to meet national exchange listing requirements.
The Russell 2000 and Microcap Indexes are reconstituted annually to ensure
larger stocks do not distort performance and characteristics of the true
opportunity set.
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional
investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active
investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are
benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell's
multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the
need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to
evaluate outside investment managers.
Total returns data for the Russell 3000 and other Russell Indexes is available
at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/default.asp.

About OncoGenex

OncoGenex is a biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and
commercialization of new therapies that address unmet needs in the treatment
of cancer. OncoGenex has a deep oncology pipeline, with each product candidate
having a distinct mechanism of action and representing a unique opportunity
for cancer drug development. OGX-011, the lead candidate that has completed
five Phase 2 clinical trials in prostate, lung and breast cancers, is designed
to inhibit the production of a specific protein associated with treatment
resistance; OGX-427 is in Phase 1 clinical development; SN2310 has completed
the Phase 1 clinical trial; and CSP-9222 and OGX-225 are currently in
pre-clinical development.
OGX-011, OGX-427 and OGX-225 utilize second-generation antisense technology,
licensed from Isis Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ISIS), to effectively target and
inhibit production of specific proteins in tumor cells. OncoGenex and Isis
partnered in the successful discovery of OGX-011, OGX-427 and OGX-225 and with
respect to OGX-011, in its initial development. In 2008, OncoGenex and Isis
amended their OGX-011 agreement to provide OncoGenex with sole rights to
OGX-011 and sole responsibility for development and related costs and
partnering decisions, subject to financial obligations to Isis. OncoGenex is
also solely responsible for development and related costs and partnering
decisions regarding OGX-427 and OGX-225. Key intellectual property related to
OGX-011, OGX-427 and OGX-225 were discovered by the University of British
Columbia and the Vancouver Prostate Centre, and were exclusively licensed to
OncoGenex.
More information about OncoGenex is available at www.oncogenex.com.

SOURCE OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

OncoGenex Contact: Scott Cormack, President & CEO, (604) 736-3678,
scormack@oncogenex.com; Media and Investor Contact: Jason Spark, Porter
Novelli Life Sciences, (619) 849-6005, jspark@pnlifesciences.com