Cyclacel designates Aurora Kinase inhibitor as its third development candidate

New York, (Dundee, Scotland, UK), November 9, 2005 - Cyclacel Group plc (“Cyclacel”), the cell cycle-focused biopharmaceutical company, announced today that CYC116 an Aurora kinase inhibitor, has entered IND-directed preclinical development. CYC116 is a small molecule investigational drug which demonstrated anticancer activity after oral administration in both hematological and solid tumor models. The company plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for CYC116 with the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2006.

CYC116, the third orally-available Cyclacel drug to enter development, was selected from over a hundred molecules synthesized by the company's scientists. CYC116 and selected backup compounds demonstrated anticancer activity in solid tumor and hematological cancer models with a mechanism consistent with inhibition of Aurora kinase.

The announcement was made by Cyclacel's CEO, Spiro Rombotis, during the company's presentation at the Rodman & Renshaw Techvest 7th Annual Healthcare Conference taking place here. “We are excited to enter IND-directed preclinical development with CYC116. Together with seliciclib and sapacitabine, our two clinical development candidates, advancement of CYC116 demonstrates our strategy of building a novel oncology-focused pipeline of drugs acting on the cancer cell cycle”, he commented.

Prof. David Glover, Chief Scientist of Cyclacel’s Polgen Division, who discovered the aurora, polo and other mitotic kinases said: “I am delighted with the rapid progress made in our Aurora kinase program. The Aurora kinases are attractive targets for anticancer drug development because they regulate both genomic integrity and cell cycle progression in cancer. We are looking forward to applying our knowledge of the biology of these essential regulators of cancer cell division or mitosis to the development of CYC116 and its backups”.

Aurora kinases are enzymes that help dividing cells share their materials among two daughter cells. In many people with cancer Aurora kinase malfunctions and normal control of cell division is lost resulting in abnormal growth. Small molecule drugs that inhibit Aurora kinase may slow down the growth of cancer cells and lead to their death by apoptosis.

About Cyclacel ( www.cyclacel.com )
Cyclacel is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of novel, mechanism-targeted drugs to treat human cancers and other serious disorders. Cyclacel's discovery engines integrate cell cycle biology expertise with a large library of gene-based targets, RNAi functional genomics, chemogenomics and clinical biomarker technologies to deliver new drugs. The company is currently evaluating seliciclib (CYC202), an orally-available Cyclin Dependent Kinase inhibitor, in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and B-cell hematological malignancies. Sapacitabine (CYC682) is an orally-available, cell cycle modulating nucleoside analog in Phase I clinical trials for the treatment of cancer. Cyclacel has eight additional programs at preclinical stages. Cyclacel has entered into corporate alliances with Altana, AstraZeneca, CV Therapeutics, GlaxoSmithKline, Lorus and Sankyo all in the oncology field. Cyclacel also has a corporate alliance with Genzyme in nephrology. Cyclacel is the first European university spin-out company to have raised more than $100 million in private equity.

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