Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. News Release - 8/7/2000

http://www.guilfordpharm.com/fs_whatsnew_nf.htm

Guilford Announces Start of Phase II Study in Parkinson's Disease and
Receipt Of New Patent Covering Neuroimmunophilin Ligands

BALTIMORE, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Guilford Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: GLFD)
announced today that its partner, Amgen Inc. (Nasdaq: AMGN), has commenced
a Phase II clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
neuroimmunophilin ligands in the treatment of patients with Parkinson's
disease. Neuroimmunophilin ligands are orally-active drugs, which have been
shown to cross the blood-brain barrier and may be useful for treating a
variety of neurodegenerative disorders.

"We are extremely pleased with the progress Amgen has made in the clinical
development of our neuroimmunophilin ligands," commented Dr. Craig R. Smith,
President and Chief Executive Officer. "Neuroimmunophilin ligands represent
a potentially exciting new development in the treatment of neurodegenerative
diseases, and the initiation of a major Phase II trial for Parkinson's
disease is an important milestone for both companies."

The Phase II clinical trial is a randomized, multicenter, double-blind,
placebo-controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of
neuroimmunophilins in the treatment of patients with Parkinson's disease.
Previous clinical studies in healthy volunteers demonstrated that
neuroimmunophilins appeared to be safe and well tolerated at the doses and
durations of administration evaluated.

Guilford also announced today the issuance of a patent that relates to this
technology. The issued patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,080,753, was granted to
Johns Hopkins University and is licensed to Guilford. The patent covers
"stimulating growth of damaged neurons in patients suffering from
Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or physical damage to the spinal
cord" with a compound "having an affinity for FKBP".

"Guilford is committed to pursuing strong patent protection for its
discoveries," commented Dr. Smith. "Combined with the previous patents we've
obtained in this field, we believe the new patent will add to our strong
intellectual property position."

About Neuroimmunophilins

In 1990, scientists led by Dr. Solomon Snyder, Director of the Department of
Neuroscience at Johns Hopkins Medical School and a co-founder of Guilford,
discovered that an immunosuppressive drug called FK-506 possessed
neurotrophic activity and was able to induce nerve growth in both test tube
and animal experiments. After licensing the rights to this technology to
Guilford, our scientists designed a series of novel, proprietary drugs,
called neuroimmunophilin ligands, which possessed the neurotrophic
properties of FK-506, without any undesired immunosuppressive activity.

Since this initial discovery, Guilford's neuroimmunophilin ligands have
demonstrated neurotrophic activity in a number of animal models of
Parkinson's disease and other acute and chronic neurological diseases and
conditions. Results from some of these studies have been published in The
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature Medicine.

In 1997, Guilford partnered with Amgen to develop, manufacture and market
FKBP-neuroimmunophilin ligands for up to ten therapeutic indications
including, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, traumatic brain and
spinal cord injuries and ALS.

About Parkinson's disease

More than one million people in the United States have been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's is a progressive disease of the central
nervous system, which clinically manifests itself in reduced muscle movement
and control. Symptoms may include muscle rigidity, tremors, difficulty
speaking and walking. Untreated, the disorder can progress to severe
disability or even premature death.

Guilford Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the
development of polymer-based therapeutics for brain cancer and other
cancers, and novel products for the treatment of neurological diseases, incl
uding Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, head trauma, spinal
cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, and peripheral neuropathies.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks
and uncertainties, including those described in the section entitled "Risk
Factors" contained in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 1999, that could cause the Company's actual results and
experience to differ materially from anticipated results and expectations
expressed in these forward-looking statements. Among other things, there can
be no assurance that the Company will be able to successfully complete all
work necessary to put any of its preclinical leads into clinical trials in a
timely and cost-effective manner, if at all, or meet and earn development
milestones under existing collaboration. SOURCE Guilford Pharmaceuticals,
Inc.

CONTACT: Stacey Jurchison, 410-631-5022, or Angela Rubin, 410-631-6449,
both of Guilford Pharmaceuticals