ARPIDA MOVES FORWARD WITH ASSIST TRIAL

Arpida has received the recommendation from an independent data and safety monitoring board (DSMB) to continue the company's Phase III clinical trials for intravenous iclaprim for the indication complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI). The DSMB made its recommendation after a planned review of clinical data from the ongoing ASSIST-1 (Arpida's Skin and skin Structure Infection STudies) trial.

The global Phase III ASSIST trials are designed to compare the efficacy and safety of iclaprim with that of market leader linezolid (marketed by Pfizer as Zyvox). Both ASSIST-1 and ASSIST-2 are global, multicenter trials conducted in various countries in North America, Europe and the rest of the world. Arpida expects to complete ASSIST-1 before the end of 2006.