VIRON AWARDED THE WINDHOVER 2011 "TOP BIOPHARMA PROJECTS TO WATCH"

LONDON, ON, Nov. 1 /CNW/ - Viron Therapeutics Inc. today announced it has been selected as a "Top Project to Watch" in the cardiovascular/metabolic category of the Windhover Therapeutic Area Partnerships Conference. The Company was recognized for its VT-111 program, a therapeutic to prevent damage due to inflammation, in particular inflammation associated with the placement of a cardiac stent. Viron will present during Windhover's Therapeutic Area Partnerships Conference in Boston, MA to be held November 2-4, 2010.

"The Windhover platform will provide Viron and VT-111 exposure to potential partners on an international level," said James Rae, CEO of Viron. "VT-111 has demonstrated exceptional preclinical and clinical efficacy and further development of this drug is planned for 2011. In parallel, we continue to pursue opportunities to advance other compounds derived from our PROSPECT™ technology, a platform for the discovery of new immune modulating protein therapeutics."

In November 2009, Viron reported positive results for a Phase 2 trial in patients with Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) receiving coronary stents. VT-111 met both the primary and secondary endpoints of the trial, which was designed to evaluate the safety and biological activity of VT-111 in ACS patients receiving coronary stents. VT-111 significantly reduced key cardiac enzymes at multiple time points after stent placement with a trend towards reducing Major Adverse Cardiac Events in the high dose group. Details of the proof of concept data will be published in Circulation: Intervention in December 2010.

"The positive safety and efficacy data from the previous trial provide a strong scientific rationale for moving forward with this novel drug in ACS and potentially other indications," said Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, Director of the Research Centre at the Montreal Heart Institute and the primary investigator on the previous study.  "There were no subsequent major adverse cardiac events in the high dose group, which correlates well with VT-111's impact on two prognostic cardiac biomarkers, Troponin I and CK-MB, whose predictive value have been demonstrated in other studies. It may also be possible for VT-111 to have an even greater impact if delivered in a larger dose than the low dose of 15 micrograms per kilogram (µg/kg) tested in this trial."

For additional information on Windhover's Therapeutic Area Partnerships conference visit www.windhover.com/taprojects.

About Viron Therapeutics Inc. (www.vironinc.com)
Viron Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of viral proteins, a revolutionary new class of drugs. By harnessing the evolutionary power of pathogens to evade the human body's protective inflammatory response, Viron is able to develop synthetic versions of these proteins, and develop powerful protein therapeutics that have distinct advantages in potency and efficacy over conventional drug therapy. The Company's proprietary PROSPECT™ technology, PROtein Screen for Pathogen-Evolved Combination Therapeutics, is a platform for the discovery of new immune-modulating protein therapeutics. Its significant pipeline of products target critical pathways that have broad application to immune and inflammatory-based diseases such as cardiovascular disease and rheumatoid arthritis. VT-111, the Company's lead compound, recently completed a successful Phase 2a study in patients receiving cardiovascular stents, and is preparing to repeat this study using the new formulation of VT-111 in 2011.

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