Amkor Pharma, Inc. Stroke Drug Nears End of Phase I Clinical Studies, Prepares for Phase II in 2008

Amkor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today provides a progress report on
its phase 1 clinical study of Neu2000KL. Neu2000KL is a
multi-mechanism neuroprotectant that is being developed for the
treatment of ischemic stroke and sudden cardiac arrest. The drug is
both a potent anti-oxidant and an NMDA antagonist. These therapeutic
mechanisms have been among the most sought after activities in the
pharmaceutical development of neuroprotectants over the past few
decades, and Neu2000KL is believed to be the first drug candidate to
combine both of these important activities into a single drug agent.
The drug has been shown to be effective in numerous animal models of
ischemic stroke and sudden cardiac arrest.

To date, the Company has enrolled 95 subjects in this phase 1
study and expects to enroll the remaining seven subjects comprising
the final cohort during the next two months. The study was originally
planned as a two part single bolus study split between 64 young
volunteers (in eight cohorts) and 24 elderly volunteers over the age
of 65 (in three cohorts). Earlier this year, when the healthy, young
cohorts did not show any dose-limiting toxicity, a third set of
volunteers (in two cohorts) was added by Amkor to further extend
dosing, to allow an option for administering higher levels over longer
periods of time in future phase II studies and enhance the ability to
show significant efficacy in those studies. The three parts of the
phase I study are now referred to as follows: phase Ia (single bolus
young volunteers); phase Ib (extended dosing young volunteers); and
phase Ic (elderly volunteers).

Once a final report has been received on currently enrolled
subjects, the Company will have reached an important milestone in the
clinical development of Neu2000KL. Specifically, the Company will have
demonstrated that it can safely administer Neu2000KL at doses which,
based upon animal studies, it believes are sufficient to support
advancement into phase IIa studies for both sudden cardiac arrest and
ischemic stroke at clinically relevant doses.

Reaching the above mentioned milestone will allow the Company to
focus its efforts on preparation for phase IIa studies, which includes
completion of certain manufacturing and preclinical requirements
associated with entry into phase II studies.

The completed phase Ia portion of the study was a
placebo-controlled, blinded study that involved 64 healthy volunteers
below the age of 65 years, who were grouped into eight cohorts of
eight subjects. Each cohort contained six treated subjects and two
placebo subjects. All treated members of a cohort received the same
drug dosage, with drug dosage escalating through the eight cohorts
from 10 mg to 1500 mg, given as a single intravenous bolus injection
over fifteen minutes. Data from each cohort remained blinded
throughout the conduct of the phase Ia portion of the study.

The drug was well tolerated at all doses tested during phase Ia.
No serious adverse events (SAEs) were seen during the phase Ia.
Adverse events (AEs) were primarily mild, were not dose-related and
were not considered to be drug related. The single moderate AE seen in
phase Ia was a liver enzyme elevation seen at day three following
administration. This enzyme was not elevated at any time points
earlier than day three, nor after day three, and is not thought to be
drug related. The most common AEs, each of which was seen at a
frequency of less than 15% in treated patients, were tachycardia,
dizziness upon standing, headache, bleeding at blood draw site, cold
feeling, nausea, hypotension upon standing. Other AEs occurred at a
frequency of 4% or less, and are not considered to be drug related.

The phase Ib study of Neu2000KL has completed enrollment and Amkor
expects to unblind the data during the first quarter of 2008. No SAEs
were seen among these two cohorts and most AEs were graded as mild.
This portion of the study, involving two cohorts of eight subjects
each, successfully extended drug dose levels to 6000 mg, administered
over a period of up to 4.25 hours. This portion of the study was
conducted using the same design and with the same subject population
as the phase Ia portion.

The phase Ic portion of the study has completed enrollment of the
first and second cohorts of volunteers, using a similar study design
as phase Ib, but using volunteers 65 years of age and older.
Enrollment of the third and final cohort is expected to complete
during the first quarter of 2008, and will position Amkor Pharma to
advance Neu2000KL toward a phase 2 study during 2008.

Dr. Robert T. Abbott, President and CEO of Amkor, said, "We are
very gratified by the safety profile shown by this drug. Numerous
other NMDA antagonists have been plagued by unacceptable side effects,
so the apparent safety of Neu2000KL could be a major step forward in
the field. In addition, this benign profile has allowed us to safely
administer the drug to subjects at doses well in excess of those
showing significant efficacy in animal models. We look forward with
anticipation to advancing this product into phase 2 studies during the
next year."

Amkor Pharma, Inc. is a clinical-stage company located in Seattle,
Washington, USA, focused on the development of drugs to treat tissue
injury. Its principle efforts are currently directed at advancing
Neu2000KL through phase 2 clinical studies in ischemic stroke and
sudden cardiac arrest. Amkor Pharma is majority owned by Neurotech
Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Neurotech is a South Korean pharmaceutical company which discovers
and develops small molecule therapeutics to treat neurological
diseases. The company is located in Suwon, Korea.