Archimedes Pharma Announces Major Fund Raising of GBP65 Million

Appoints new Chief Executive Officer to Accelerate Growth of Business

READING, England, March 2, 2010 - Archimedes Pharma ("Archimedes"), the leading specialty pharma
company, today announced that it has raised GBP65 million (approx US$100
million) in new funding. The round was led by new investor Novo Growth
Equity, the growth equity fund of Novo A/S, and included participation by
major current investor, Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm.
Archimedes also announced the appointment of a new President and Chief
Executive Officer, Jeffrey H. Buchalter, formerly President and Chief
Executive Officer of US-based Enzon.

The funding round is the largest raised by a private European
biopharma company in the last 15 years and is Novo Growth Equity's first
investment since it was established at the beginning of 2009. The funds will
be used to establish Archimedes' operations in the US and support the growth
of the successful specialty pharma business in Europe. The funds will also be
used to support the global commercial launch of PecFent*, Archimedes'
innovative, simple-to-use, fentanyl nasal spray for the treatment of
breakthrough cancer pain. PecFent has been filed for approval in Europe and
the US and is expected to be approved for commercial sale in both regions
during 2010. PecFent is supported by an extensive phase III clinical
development programme in which the product met all primary and secondary
end-points. Crucially, the phase III studies demonstrated that PecFent showed
onset of pain relief within five minutes of dosing, statistically significant
improvements in pain relief versus immediate release morphine, together with
high levels of patient acceptability and consistent effectiveness in use.

Jeffrey H. Buchalter has over 20 years experience in the
pharmaceutical industry and has held senior positions at a number of
multinational pharmaceutical companies. He was most recently President and
CEO of Enzon Pharmaceuticals, the US biopharmaceutical company focused on the
development, manufacturing and commercialisation of therapies for patients
with cancer and other life-threatening conditions. Prior to this, he was CEO
of ILEX Oncology, where he led the transformation from a drug development
company to a high quality oncology franchise with established commercial
operations. He has also held key positions at Pharmacia, Wyeth and Schering
Plough.

Simon Turton, Managing Director of Warburg Pincus, said: "We
have supported Archimedes since its foundation in 2004 and are delighted to
invest again in such an exceptional company as it enters a new stage in its
growth. We are particularly pleased to welcome Jeff as President and CEO and
to the Board of Archimedes. His vast experience and knowledge of the
pharmaceutical industry, and specifically oncology, will be instrumental in
accelerating the Company's success through an international platform. This
major injection of funding and the appointment of Jeff as the new President
and CEO mark the beginning of a new phase in Archimedes' growth plans."

Ulrik Spork, Managing Partner of Novo Growth Equity, said: "We
have been impressed with the successful track record of Archimedes over the
last five years, and are very pleased to contribute to the further
transformation of the Company with the launch of PecFent, Archimedes' nasal
fentanyl spray, in Europe and US. Archimedes represents an ideal investment
opportunity for us and supports our strategy to take major stakes in
promising late stage life sciences companies with near-term commercial
potential."

Jeffrey H. Buchalter, President and Chief Executive Officer of
Archimedes, commented: "Archimedes is at a transformational stage in its
development. It has built up a successful specialty pharma business in Europe
and has filed its lead product, PecFent, for product approval in both Europe
and the US. I am delighted to join as President and CEO to accelerate the
expansion of Archimedes' business in Europe, support the commercialisation of
PecFent, and build the operations in the US market."

The board of Archimedes will now include Simon Turton and
Piyush Shukla of Warburg Pincus; Ulrik Spork and Goran Ando of Novo A/S; and
Jeffrey H. Buchalter.

*PecFent was previously known as NasalFent.

Notes to editors:

About Archimedes Pharma

Archimedes Pharma ("Archimedes") is a specialty pharmaceutical
company already marketing and selling an expanding portfolio of specialist
products to hospital-based prescribers in major European territories.

Focused on the oncology, pain, neurology and critical care
sectors, Archimedes currently markets a range of products in the UK, France,
Germany and Ireland, and will continue to expand its commercial presence in
Spain and the US during 2010.

Products currently marketed in Europe by Archimedes include:
Gliadel, a biodegradable wafer impregnated with carmustine for high-grade
glioma; Zomorph, an oral sustained release morphine product for moderate to
severe pain, particularly cancer pain; Oramorph, a liquid immediate release
morphine product also indicated for moderate to severe pain; Apomorphine
Injection for motor fluctuations in advanced Parkinson's disease and
Pabrinex, a high potency vitamin formulation used to treat the symptoms of
malnutrition especially in patients with alcohol misuse problems.

Archimedes is also developing a robust, high value pipeline of
in-house products in pain, Parkinson's disease and critical care. It applies
its world-class drug delivery technologies to proven molecules which have yet
to achieve their market potential due to their current mode of delivery. This
approach reduces the company's development risk, while delivering significant
clinical and commercial benefits.

Archimedes submitted a centralised Marketing Authorisation
Application with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for PecFent in April
2009 and submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) with the US Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) in August 2009. The product is expected to be approved
for commercial sale during 2010 in both territories.

PecFent

Archimedes' transformational product is PecFent, an innovative
and highly differentiated fentanyl citrate nasal spray, for the rapid relief
of breakthrough cancer pain, based on Archimedes' PecSys(TM) technology.
Phase III data illustrates that PecFent has a potential best-in-class profile
among fentanyl products for breakthrough cancer pain and is the first product
to demonstrate onset of pain relief within five minutes of dosing.

PecFent is an aqueous fentanyl citrate solution utilising
Archimedes' proprietary PecSys(TM) technology. The PecFent solution has a low
viscosity and is easily delivered in a low volume of 100mcl using a nasal
spray pump. The pump produces a fine mist of similarly sized spray droplets
which are deposited into the front of the nostril. The calcium ions present
on the nasal mucosa cause the pectin to form a thin gel layer, which allows
fentanyl to be retained on the nasal mucosa, allowing a rapid but controlled
absorption into the systemic circulation. The PecSys(TM) technology avoids
problems associated with simple solutions used in nasal sprays, such as
excessive levels of drug and dripping or swallowing of the drug solution.

Archimedes' technologies - ChiSys(R), PecSys(TM) and TARGIT(R)
- are also used in a number of partnered products in late-stage clinical
development. ChiSys, an innovative drug delivery technology which enhances
the residence time of molecules on mucosal membranes, has proven potential
for vaccine delivery. Pre-clinical and clinical studies of nasally
administered vaccines have demonstrated enhanced immune response. PecSys(TM)
is Archimedes' patented drug delivery system built around its novel pectin
technology, designed to maximise the potential of systemically absorbed drugs
by enhancing drug performance and improving patient acceptance.

For more information, please visit:
www.archimedespharma.com.

Jeffrey H. Buchalter

Jeffrey H. Buchalter has over 20 years experience in the
pharmaceutical industry. He was previously President and CEO of Enzon
Pharmaceutical Inc. since 2004 and also served as Chairman of the Board of
Directors until May 2009. Prior to this, Jeffrey was President and CEO of
ILEX Oncology, Inc. where he led the company's transformation from a drug
development contract research organization to a product-driven pharmaceutical
company. Before joining ILEX Oncology Inc., Jeffrey held key roles at
Pharmacia, Wyeth (formerly American Home Products) and Schering-Plough
Corporation.

Jeffrey received the American Cancer Society's Joseph F.
Buckley Memorial Award and an invitation from former President George Bush to
serve as a collaborating partner in the National Dialogue on Cancer. Jeffrey
was recently appointed Chairman to the Board of Trustees of The National
Children's' Cancer Foundation (NCCF); he is also a member of the Board of
Directors of TopoTarget A/S, a publicly held Danish biopharmaceutical
company.

Jeffrey has a B.S. in finance from Seton Hall University, and an M.B.A.
in marketing from Temple University.

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus is a leading global private equity firm. The
firm has more than $30 billion in assets under management. Its active
portfolio of more than 100 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector
and geography. Warburg Pincus is a growth investor and an experienced partner
to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable
value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 12 private equity funds
which have invested more than $35 billion in approximately 600 companies in
more than 30 countries. Since the firm's first European transaction in 1983,
Warburg Pincus has invested more than $6 billion in European companies,
including investments in Archimedes, Eurand and ProStrakan. Additional life
science investments include Allos Therapeutics, Ganic Pharmaceuticals,
InterMune, Rib-X Pharmaceuticals and ZymoGenetics. The firm has offices in
Beijing, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco,
Shanghai and Tokyo. For more information, please visit
www.warburgpincus.com.

About Novo A/S and Novo Growth Equity

Novo A/S is the holding and investment company of the Novo
Group, and is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Novo A/S was
formed in 1999 to actively manage the assets of the foundation. It employs
about 30 people and has approximately USD 15 billion of assets under
management. These includes significant shareholdings in the publicly listed
Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE: NVO) and Novozymes A/S (NVZMF.PK), Novo A/S provides
seed, venture and growth capital to development stage companies within life
science and biotechnology, as well as manages a broad portfolio of financial
assets. Novo A/S is committing up to USD 300 million annually to its
investments in seed, venture and growth equity life science companies. Of
this, nearly two-thirds are directed to the Novo Growth Equity activities
focusing on investment in promising late stage companies with near term
commercial potential. For further information please visit
www.novo.dk.

For further information, please contact:

Capital MS&L:

Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Tel: +44(0)20-7307-5347

For further information, please contact: Capital MS&L: Mary Clark, Supriya Mathur, Tel: +44(0)20-7307-5347