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09/03/14 9:47 AM

#254570 RE: Theo #252675

RNN Rexahn Receives a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a Novel Targeted Cancer Drug Delivery Platform

ROCKVILLE, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: RNN), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced it has received a notice of allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for a new delivery technology titled, “Polymeric Systems for the Delivery of Anticancer Drugs”. The patent covers CPMA, a new polymer drug delivery platform technology developed by Rexahn.

“We are pleased to further expand our platform of proprietary drug delivery technologies in preclinical development. CPMA complements our nano-polymer-drug delivery platform, nano-polymer-drug conjugate system (NPDCS), which has already shown promising results in preclinical studies,” stated Rexahn’s CEO, Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D. “Our drug delivery platforms address a well-recognized need in cancer treatment for drugs that selectively target and kill cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unharmed. Although numerous widely used FDA-approved anti-cancer drugs offer benefits to patients, in most cases, the efficacy of these drugs can be significantly improved, and their toxic side-effects minimized, if they can be combined with a targeted drug delivery technology to bring the drug directly into cancer cells.”

The CPMA technology platform allows for multiple anti-cancer compounds to be covalently bound to the proprietary polymer backbone and be coupled to a signaling moiety. The signaling moiety directs the bound drug to the cancer cell, thereby bypassing healthy cells leading to enhanced efficacy with the potential for reduced side effects. Once inside the cancer cell the CPMA complex is metabolized yielding the free anticancer compound. Because of its diverse chemical properties, CPMA is highly water soluble which allows water insoluble anti-cancer compounds to be bioavailable through a more effective delivery.

About Rexahn’s Proprietary Drug Delivery Platforms

CPMA is a polymer based drug delivery platform for the targeted delivery of anticancer compounds directly to cancer cells. The highly versatile chemical properties of CPMA allow it to be covalently linked to a diverse range of anti-cancer compounds together with a signaling moiety directing it to cancer cells and bypassing healthy tissues. Once inside a cancer cell covalent linker is metabolized yielding the free anti-cancer compound. CPMA has the flexibility to covalently bind multiple anti-cancer compounds into a signal formulation. Because it is highly water soluble, CPMA also enables compounds that are water insoluble to be more effectively delivered and bioavailable.

NPDCS is a nano-polymer targeted anticancer drug delivery platform. Rexahn’s first clinical candidate for NPDCS is RX-21101, which combines its nano-drug delivery system with docetaxel, a widely used FDA approved chemotherapeutic agent. RX-21101 may bolster efficacy while lowering toxicity of docetaxel and other FDA approved drugs through specific tumor targeting and improved deliver to the tumor site. Potential indications include breast, ovarian, prostate and lung cancers.

About Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Rexahn currently has three clinical stage oncology candidates, Archexin®, RX-3117, and SupinoxinTM (RX-5902) and a robust pipeline of preclinical compounds to treat multiple types of cancer. Rexahn has also developed proprietary drug discovery platform technologies in the areas of Nano-Polymer-Drug Conjugate Systems (NPDCS), CPMA, 3D-GOLD, and TIMES. For more information, please visit www.rexahn.com.