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Watertown, MA, May 23, 2006 -

Former Pfizer Executive Director Michael Ahlijanian Joins as Vice President R&D

WATERTOWN, Mass., May 23, 2006 – EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company developing drugs for neurodegenerative diseases, today announced it has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Michael K. Ahlijanian, Ph.D. as Vice President, Research and Development. The company also announced that current executives, Gerhard Koenig, Ph.D. and Michael Palfreyman, Ph.D., D.Sc., have expanded their roles within the company with Dr. Koenig being named Chief Scientific Officer and Dr. Palfreyman becoming Vice President, Program Management and Drug Development.

Dr. Ahlijanian has worked in neuroscience for over 25 years with 15 years in CNS Discovery at Pfizer. As Vice President of Research and Development at EnVivo, Dr. Ahlijanian will focus on the delivery of preclinical candidates from Research and will be involved in the preclinical development of these candidates prior to testing in humans. As Vice President of Program Management and Drug Development, Dr. Palfreyman will be responsible for the later-stage programs and overseeing the clinical and regulatory operations for EnVivo’s drug candidates as they enter human clinical trials. As Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Koenig will provide strategic oversight for the company’s scientific programs.

“Over the past year, we have made significant progress in transitioning from an emerging research-focused organization to a product development company with its first proprietary drug candidates entering human clinical trials,” said Kees Been, Chief Executive Officer at EnVivo Pharmaceuticals. “Drs. Ahlijanian, Koenig and Palfreyman are vital members of our senior management team, and their experience is complemented by the recent addition of a world-class clinical and development advisory board.”

“Dr. Ahlijanian’s and Dr. Koenig’s extensive neuroscience backgrounds will greatly enrich our scientific and R&D programs here at EnVivo, while Dr. Palfreyman’s clinical and operational experience in the industry will be valuable as we advance our promising programs for alpha-7 in Alzheimer’s and EVP-3546 in Huntington’s into Phase 1 trials later this year,” commented Been.

Prior to his position at EnVivo, Dr. Ahlijanian served as the Executive Director of CNS discovery operations at the Pfizer Global Research and Development division of Pfizer, Inc. At Pfizer, Dr. Ahlijanian was responsible for the identification and selection of several preclinical candidates across a broad spectrum of CNS indications, such as Schizophrenia and Depression. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (A. E. Takemori) and received post-doctoral training at the University of Colorado (D.M.F. Cooper) and the University of Washington (W.A. Catterall).

Dr. Palfreyman joined EnVivo in early 2005 as Vice President Development, running the Alpha-7 program. Dr. Palfreyman brings more than 30 years of drug development experience to the company. Prior to joining EnVivo, he was Founder, CSO and President of Psychiatric Genomics. Prior to that, Dr. Palfreyman was Senior Vice President of Research & Development at Scriptgen (Anadys) Pharmaceuticals. Before Scriptgen, he held a number of senior positions at Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute (Aventis), including Vice President Research, North America. Prior to Marion Merrell Dow Research Institute, Dr. Palfreyman was Head of Biochemical Pharmacology at Beecham Pharmaceuticals (GlaxoSmithKline) where he pioneered rational biochemical approaches to drug discovery with three compounds demonstrating clinical effectiveness. Dr. Palfreyman received both his Ph.D. and D.Sc. from the University of Nottingham in neuroscience and rational drug design of CNS active drugs.

Dr. Koenig joined EnVivo in mid 2003 from Fidelity Biosciences, one of EnVivo’s investors. He was instrumental in the in-licensing of the nicotinic alpha-7 program from Bayer AG in 2004. This program was initiated under his leadership at Bayer Healthcare where Dr. Koenig spent 10+ years in various positions, most recently as the Director of the Neurodegeneration Department. In this function he had responsibility for all preclinical research and development aspects for neurodegenerative diseases with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease. That work resulted in the successful nomination of several compounds for full development. Dr. Koenig received his Masters Degree and Ph.D. in molecular neurobiology from the University of Heidelberg, Germany, graduating summa cum laude.

About EnVivo Pharmaceuticals

EnVivo Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to discovering and developing drugs for central nervous system (CNS) disorders including, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Spino Cerebellar Ataxias. The company’s lead programs include a Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Agonist Program (alpha-7) for Alzheimer’s disease, a Histone Deacetylase (HDAC) Program for Huntington’s disease and several Neuroprotection Programs, such as EVP-3546 and EVP-2442, for Huntington’s disease as well as other neurodegenerative indications. More information about EnVivo is available at http://www.envivopharma.com/.


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