Maxim Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:MAXM) (SSE:MAXM) today announced that it retained Piper Jaffray & Co. To advise and assist in identifying and evaluating its strategic options. Piper Jaffray & Co. Is a leading investment bank serving the life science industry, and has extensive life science merger and acquisition expertise.

As the Company previously announced, it is seeking and evaluating strategic transactions that effectively leverage and build on Maxim's assets, including its early stage oncology therapeutic candidates, its research team, core drug development team, as well as its apoptosis modulator discovery platform, public company infrastructure and cash. At December 31, 2004, the Company had cash, cash equivalents and investments totaling $40.5 million.

Maxim Overview

Maxim Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company that has been dedicated to developing therapeutic candidates to treat cancer and liver disease. Using its proprietary live cell high-throughput screening technology and chemical genetics, Maxim is developing small-molecule apoptosis inducers to treat cancer. This program has produced several lead compounds that are advancing to clinical trials through collaborations or independently. Maxim is also continuing to screen compound libraries to identify new compounds. Ceplene(TM), Maxim's histamine based drug candidate, administered in combination with IL-2 as a remission maintenance therapy, demonstrated an improvement in leukemia free survival in one Phase 3 study of Acute Myeloid Leukemia patients compared to patients receiving no treatment, the current standard of care. Maxim is seeking a partner to continue Ceplene development in Europe and the United States.

Apoptosis compounds and Ceplene are investigational drugs and have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or any international regulatory agency.