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SCYNEXIS Completes $29 million New Round of Investment

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. (June 20, 2002) - Drug discovery company SCYNEXIS, Inc. announced today it has successfully completed a $29 million round of financing from a syndicate of U.S. and European venture funds led by Alta Partners. Also included among the new investors were Burrill & Company, SR One, CDC Innovation Partners and KBL Healthcare Ventures. SCYNEXIS' original investors Genavent, SG Asset Management and Ventech also participated in the Series C financing.

“This new round of investment provides strong confirmation of our business and our strategic approach to the marketplace,” said Yves Ribeill, President and Chief Executive Officer of SCYNEXIS.

Ribeill added that the latest round of investment was oversubscribed, underscoring the investors' confidence in SCYNEXIS' strategy of leveraging innovative synthesis chemistry technology in collaborations with drug companies.

Commensurate with the closing of the financing, SCYNEXIS named Dr. Edward Penhoet and John Kim, M.D. to the SCYNEXIS board of directors. Dr. Penhoet is the former CEO of Chiron Corporation, a leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology company. Dr. Kim is a Managing Director at Burrill & Company.

“We're extremely gratified to have someone of Ed's reputation and stature join our board and have his experience complemented by John's,” said Ribeill. “We look forward to their valuable input.”

“SCYNEXIS has a strong team of chemists and a proprietary technology platform, which addresses one of the major limitations in drug development. In its multiple corporate partnerships, SCYNEXIS has already proven it can accelerate the drug discovery process. SCYNEXIS has the potential to leverage this expertise to bring significant value to future partners and to evolve into a fully-integrated drug discovery company,” said Penhoet.

“We believe that SCYNEXIS offers a technology and capability that brings new levels of productivity and innovation to medicinal chemistry,” said Kim. “The Company's rapid progress in its business development efforts suggests that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry is very receptive to the advantages of SCYNEXIS' platform.”

SCYNEXIS, Inc. is a drug discovery firm headquartered near Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, with its European operation, SCYNEXIS Europe Ltd. located near Cambridge, England. By combining its chemists' expertise with its proprietary MEDCHEM-FACTORY® technology and Hit Explorer Operating System (HEOS™), SCYNEXIS is increasing the productivity and speed of the pharmaceutical discovery process. As an innovator in the field of high-speed synthesis with special expertise in the area of automation, SCYNEXIS is reshaping the process of discovery and early optimization of new, promising chemical compounds.

SCYNEXIS provides a full range of highly integrated synthetic chemistry processes and technologies to the life sciences industry - From Concept To Clinic™ - representing the next step in the industrialization of the drug discovery process. SCYNEXIS offers, in addition to its MEDCHEM-FACTORY® technology, directed synthesis of novel, "drug-like" hit generation compounds, hit explosion and lead optimization services as well as process optimization, the production of clinical samples in its GMP facility and radiochemistry synthesis services. For more information on SCYNEXIS, please visit www.scynexis.com.

Alta Partners is a venture capital firm investing in biotechnology, life sciences and information technology companies. The Firm's partners have a combined experience of more than 120 years in financing and building high-growth companies. Alta Partners, formed in 1996, has approximately $1 billion under management. For further information on Alta Partners, please visit our web site at http://www.altapartners.com.

Burrill & Company, a San Francisco-based, private merchant bank focused on venture-capital investment in, and strategic partnering with, life-science companies.

Media Contacts:

SCYNEXIS:
Rick Rountree
Rick Rountree Communications
(919) 878-1144
rick@rickrountree.com

Business Development Contacts:

SCYNEXIS:
In the U.S.:
Terry Marquardt
(919) 544-8600
terry.marquardt@scynexis.com
In Europe:
Dr. Hans Fliri
+ 44 (0) 1277 367 002
hans.firi@scynexis.com

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