SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PARD), a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today announced that its lead product candidate, picoplatin, has been selected by an independent committee assembled by Windhover Information Inc. as one of the Top 10 most promising oncology projects in development that is available for partnering.

"We are pleased that the selection committee has recognized picoplatin as one of the most promising oncology programs for partnering," said Ronald Martell, president and COO of Poniard. "We believe that picoplatin has attractive product attributes, including the strong potential for technical, clinical and regulatory success. We have exclusive worldwide rights for picoplatin."

The selection committee was led by Marc Wortman, Ph.D., contributing writer to Windhover's In Vivo and Start Up, and Ben Bonifant, vice president and head of the Business Development Practice at Campbell Alliance, a management consulting firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. The committee evaluated hundreds of compounds currently in development for the treatment of cancer to select the 10 product candidates that represent the most attractive oncology opportunities for strategic partnering. Winners have met rigorous criteria, including large market potential with a diversity of indications, large unmet medical need, strong science, multi-level partnering opportunities (biotech and pharma), potential for new opportunities beyond initial indications, and corporate stability.

"The efficacy of platinum agents is well proven as a class," said Mr. Bonifant. "Picoplatin capitalizes on that and offers a number of differentiated new advantages that could prove very attractive to oncologists in treating multiple types of solid tumors."

"Selected companies have been screened using a strict set of judging criteria for the Top 10 award and represent what our committee considered the most attractive oncology opportunities the industry has to offer," said Roger Longman, managing director of Windhover Information.

As a selected company, Poniard will present data on picoplatin at Windhover's Therapeutic Area Partnerships conference on November 3-5 in Philadelphia. Windhover is a leading provider of business information products and services to senior executives in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device industries.

About Picoplatin

Picoplatin has an improved safety profile relative to existing platinum-based cancer therapies and is designed to overcome platinum resistance associated with chemotherapy in solid tumors. It is being studied in multiple cancer indications, combinations and formulations. Picoplatin has been evaluated in more than 750 patients and has demonstrated anti-tumor activity in multiple indications with less severe kidney toxicity (nephrotoxicity) and nerve toxicity (neurotoxicity) than is commonly observed with other platinum chemotherapy drugs.

Poniard is evaluating picoplatin in an ongoing pivotal Phase 3 trial, known as SPEAR (Study of Picoplatin Efficacy After Relapse), in small cell lung cancer. This registration trial currently is being conducted under a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is evaluating overall survival as the primary endpoint. Picoplatin is also being evaluated in two ongoing Phase 2 clinical trials in patients with patients with metastatic colorectal cancer and hormone refractory prostate cancer. Oral picoplatin is being evaluated in a Phase 1 clinical trial in solid tumors. The oral formulation of picoplatin has the same active pharmaceutical ingredient as the intravenous formulation. Picoplatin has not been approved by any regulatory authority for use in humans.

About Poniard Pharmaceuticals

Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative oncology products to impact the lives of people with cancer. For additional information please visit http://www.poniard.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the Company's business objectives and strategic goals, drug development plans, timing and results of clinical trials and the potential safety and efficacy of its products in development. The Company's actual results may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements based on a number of factors, including risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's research and development activities; the results of pre-clinical and clinical testing; the receipt and timing of required regulatory approvals; the market's acceptance of the Company's proposed products; the Company's anticipated operating losses, need for future capital and ability to obtain future funding; competition from third parties; the Company's ability to preserve and protect intellectual property rights; the Company's dependence on third-party manufacturers and suppliers; the Company's lack of sales and marketing experience; the Company's ability to attract and retain key personnel; changes in technology, government regulation and general market conditions; and the risks and uncertainties described in the Company's current and periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2008. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date of this release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

(C) 2008 Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Poniard and Poniard Pharmaceuticals are trademarks of Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

SOURCE Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc.