Copenhagen, Denmark, 2010-12-20 14:22 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --Exiqon A/S (NASDAQ OMX: EXQ) today announced the completion of the discovery
phase in its program for early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC) in blood .
Exiqon and its partners at Copenhagen University, Aarhus University Hospital
Skejby and Hvidovre Hospital have performed a two-phased discovery program in
plasma samples from stage II/III CRC patients and age- and gender-matched
colonoscopy-verified healthy controls.

The program is supported by a four year grant from the Danish Advanced
Technology Foundation.

In the discovery phase, an initial genome-wide screen in blood plasma profiling
730 individual microRNAs from 50 stage II cancers and 50 matched controls was
followed by a profiling of 378 individual microRNAs in 120 stage II CRC, 50
stage III and 170 matched controls. The two screens have resulted in a list of
candidate biomarker microRNAs that are statistically significantly altered
between cancers and healthy volunteers.

The results have been submitted for presentation at a major oncology conference
early in the second quarter of 2011.

Exiqon is already in the process of optimizing the assay that will be used to
validate the discovered microRNA biomarkers in more than 5,000 blood
sampleswhich will be collected prospectively. The first validation is expected
to be completed by the second half of 2011.

Colorectal cancer is one of the deadliest cancers as it is often not diagnosed
until the disease is very advanced. However, if discovered early, the
likelihood of successful treatment is very high. This calls for a simple
blood-based screening test that routinely can be taken. Today, screening for
colon cancer is primarily done by a FOBT test which detects blood in the stool
or by colonoscopy, but both tests suffer from very low compliance due to the
unpleasant nature of the tests. The market potential is significant as up to
300 million individuals may be screened every other year which provides for an
addressable market in the excess of 3.5 billion USD.

More information:
Lars Kongsbak, President and CEO, tel. +45 4566 0888 (cell: +45 4090 2101)
Hans Henrik Chrois Christensen, CFO, tel. +45 4566 0888 (cell: +45 4090 2131)

See the full announcement in the attached PDF or at
www.exiqon.com/investor/portal

Announcement_23_2010_EarlyDiscoveryCRC.pdf