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Sangart Completes Enrollment in Phase II Clinical Study of Hemospan®

SAN DIEGO, CA (February 24, 2005) – Sangart, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing oxygen transport agents, announced today the completion of patient enrollment in its Phase II clinical trial involving Hemospan® (MP4), a hemoglobin-based oxygen carrier designed to serve as an alternative for blood transfusions.

The trial was conducted at six major medical centers in Sweden and involved 90 patients undergoing elective and emergency orthopedic surgeries. Sangart expects to receive data and results from the study over the next few months.

Robert M. Winslow, M.D., Sangart's Chairman and CEO, commented, "We are very pleased with the conduct of this study , completed in a relatively short time period and in a patient population for whom MP4 might eventually be used. This study should give Sangart a good indication of the safety profile of MP4 as a therapeutic oxygen carrier."

Sangart's approach to the development of oxygen transport agents employs novel technology that is the result of more than a decade of peer-reviewed research into the mechanism of oxygen transport by cell-free hemoglobin. Preclinical and clinical studies indicate that Hemospan® is free of harmful vasoactivity and provides targeted oxygen delivery to tissues at risk of oxygen deprivation.

About Sangart

Sangart is a privately held biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development and commercialization of medical products designed for use as alternatives to blood transfusions.

Dr. Robert Winslow, a world-renowned authority in the field of oxygen transport, founded Sangart in 1998. In the two decades prior to founding Sangart, Dr. Winslow and his colleagues studied and defined mechanisms of oxygen transport by cell-free hemoglobin solutions, funded by competitive grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense. The counterintuitive discoveries by Dr. Winslow's group on the effective action of oxygen transport agents have been patented and published in numerous scientific articles. From this experience, Sangart's lead product, Hemospan®, was designed using unique polyethylene glycol conjugation to create a hemoglobin-based product that is intended to serve as an alternative to donated blood.

The key breakthroughs in the development of Hemospan® were the understanding of the mechanisms of vasoconstriction and the development of simplified production methods that are designed to make the final product commercially viable. These breakthroughs laid the groundwork for Sangart's business concept of developing cost-effective oxygen carriers that can be used in lieu of transfused red blood cells during episodes of temporary blood loss, such as surgery or trauma.

Media Contacts:

The Ruth Group
Greg Tiberend
(646) 536-7005
gtiberend@theruthgroup.com
Zack Kubow
(646) 536-7020
zkubow@theruthgroup.com

To learn more about Sangart or Hemospan®, please visit www.sangart.com