Rexahn Pharmaceuticals Initiates Dosing in Phase I Trial of SupinoxinTM (RX-5902) a Candidate for Treating Solid Cancer Tumors

Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE MKT: RNN) a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company announced today the commencement of patient dosing with SupinoxinTM (RX-5902) in a Phase I clinical trial designed to study safety and efficacy in patients with solid cancer tumors. Supinoxin is an orally administered, first-in-class, small molecule inhibitor of phosphorylated-p68 RNA helicase (P-p68). P-p68, which is selectively expressed in cancer cells and is absent in normal tissue, increases the activity of multiple cancer related genes including cyclin D1, c-jun and c-myc, and plays a role in tumor progression and metastasis. Over-expression of P-p68 has been observed in solid tumors, such as melanoma, colon, ovarian and lung. The Supinoxin Phase I trial is a multi-center dose-escalation study which will evaluate the safety, tolerability, dose-limiting toxicities and maximal tolerated dose (MTD) in patients with solid tumors. Secondary endpoints will include characterizing the pharmacokinetic profile of Supinoxin and evaluating the preliminary anti-tumor effects of Supinoxin. Dr. Joe J. Stephenson, MD, Medical Director, Institute for Translational Oncology Research (ITOR), Greenville Health Systems commented, “Supinoxin represents a very interesting new approach for the treatment of cancer patients with solid tumors. We are excited about investigating its potential as a novel therapy in cancer patients.” Peter D. Suzdak, Ph.D., Rexahn's Chief Executive Officer commented, “The start of Supinoxin dosing represents an important milestone for Rexahn. Supinoxin is Rexahn's third oncology compound to enter into clinical development and represents an important part of our expanding clinical development pipeline.” In preclinical studies Supinoxin has been shown to inhibit proliferation of cancer cells in 18 human cancer cell lines including breast, colon, pancreas, ovarian, and stomach cancers, and showed potent activity in drug-resistant cancer cells. In an animal model, where human cancer cells from melanoma, pancreas, renal or ovarian cancers were grafted into animals, treatment with Supinoxin resulted in a significant reduction in tumor growth. About Rexahn Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Rexahn Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing best-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Rexahn currently has three clinical stage oncology candidates, Archexin®, RX-3117, and SupinoxinTM (RX-5902) and a robust pipeline of preclinical compounds to treat multiple types of cancer. Rexahn has also developed proprietary drug discovery platform technologies in the areas of Nano-Polymer-Drug Conjugate Systems (NPDCS), nano-medicines, 3D-GOLD, and TIMES. For more information, please visit www.rexahn.com. Safe Harbor To the extent any statements made in this press release deal with information that is not historical, these are forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements about Rexahn's plans, objectives, expectations and intentions with respect to future operations and products and other statements identified by words such as “will,” “potential,” “could,” “can,” “believe,” “intends,” “continue,” “plans,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “may,” other words of similar meaning or the use of future dates. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Uncertainties and risks may cause Rexahn's actual results to be materially different than those expressed in or implied by Rexahn's forward-looking statements. For Rexahn, particular uncertainties and risks include, among others, the difficulty of developing pharmaceutical products, obtaining regulatory and other approvals and achieving market acceptance; the marketing success of Rexahn's licensees or sublicensees; the success of clinical testing; and Rexahn's need for and ability to obtain additional financing. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Rexahn's actual results are described in Rexahn's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release. Rexahn undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.