CALIFIA BIO

December 23, 2008

The University of Rochester Medical Center and Califia Bio Inc. have entered into a medicinal chemistry research collaboration to optimize chemical leads into potential clinical candidates for the treatment of HIV – related dementia and NeuroAIDS. This research is part of ongoing work at the URMC, funded by a $7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to discover new treatments for neuroAIDS and involves collaborations with the laboratories of Dr. Harris Gelbard, Principal Investigator, Drs. Stephen Dewhurst and Sanjay Maggirwar also from URMC, and Dr. Howard Gendelman, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. The success of combination therapy for HIV infection has resulted in an aging population of AIDS patients who experience debilitating neurological damage that results from neurotoxins produced by the HIV virus and resulting abnormal activity of the immune system in response to neurological inflammation. It is believed that treatments identified for NeuroAids may also be useful in developing therapies for other neurodegenerative diseases. Califia Bio Inc. is a privately held company based in San Diego, California, and is involved in collaborative research and contract service projects in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Contact Val S. Goodfellow, CEO, info@califiabio.com.