Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc. Raises $11.1M in Series A Financing

Seattle, Washington, August 15, 2005 -- Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc., an early stage antibody therapeutics company, announced today the closing of its Series A financing.  Sevin Rosen Funds led the $11.1 million round and was joined by Ventures West, WRF Capital and other private investors. “This financing is proof that the investment community is recognizing the value of our technologies and their enormous potential within the field of antibody therapeutics,” said Dr. Randall Schatzman, CEO and an Alder founder. “This funding will allow us to develop our lead antibody therapeutic, broaden our product pipeline, and build on our proprietary antibody discovery and manufacturing technologies.”

Alder’s proprietary technologies accelerate the discovery and development of antibody therapeutics that will address significant unmet medical needs. The company’s therapeutic focus is centered in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases with extensions into certain forms of cancer.

Alder’s unique contribution to the field involves a platform of proprietary antibody technologies that industrializes the approach to developing, selecting and manufacturing antibody therapeutics. Alder’s technologies dramatically accelerate progress to the clinic while at the same time providing an inexpensive and rapid route through product manufacturing.

“Our technologies allow companies to take control of manufacturing capacity, timelines and costs,” said Schatzman. “It will allow manufacturers of biotherapeutics to shorten their development cycles from years to months, so they can develop new antibody-based therapies faster and get them into the clinic—and ultimately, to the people who need them—in less time and at a significantly lower cost.  It also gives them more control over manufacturing post-launch, so they’re better able to deliver a steady supply of product at all times.”

Alder’s proprietary technologies solve significant manufacturing problems in the antibody therapeutics arena. “Alder has a unique combination of antibodies addressing poorly served targets and a powerful new manufacturing approach,” said Steve Dow, General Partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. “Emerging companies that have technologies with the potential to effect fundamental changes in the market place are what we look for. The biotechnology industry is currently struggling with how to cost-effectively produce expensive biotherapeutics. We believe that Alder’s approach will pave the way to solving this problem.”

For more information or to setup a non-disclosure agreement to learn about Alder’s proprietary technologies in more detail, please contact Mark Litton, Chief Business Officer, at (425) 527-2701 or Litton@alderbio.com.

About Alder
Founded in January 2004, Alder Biopharmaceuticals uniquely identifies, develops, and manufactures novel antibody therapeutics to alleviate human suffering in the autoimmune and inflammatory disease areas. Alder’s management team combines decades of industry experience with a proven track record for identifying and developing novel antibody therapeutics. The company acquired early funding from the United States Army in June of 2004 to explore the development of new production technologies for humanized antibodies. That early success was followed by seed funding from WRF Capital and other private investors in the Fall of 2004. Today the company is actively engaged in developing its own proprietary therapeutics and enabling partners through out-licensing of its technologies. For more information, please visit www.alderbio.com.

About Sevin Rosen Funds
Sevin Rosen Funds is a top-tier venture capital firm with a track record of funding successful companies since 1981. The partnership has consistently made early-stage investments in pioneering technologies and companies with the potential to create new markets. The partners' extensive venture and operating experiences in successful technology companies translates into a sustained commitment and contribution to the development of the ventures funded. Compaq, Lotus, Cypress, Cytokinetics, ArQule, Siena and Citrix are representative of some of the firm's successful very early stage projects. The firm has offices in Dallas, Palo Alto, Austin, and San Diego. For more information, please visit www.srfunds.com.

About Ventures West
Ventures West Management Inc., a private venture capital investment group, is one of Canada’s leading investors in early stage technology companies. Since its founding in 1968, Ventures West has formed eight venture capital funds which total over $700 million and has invested in more than 130 companies. Ventures West has the people, the expertise, and the capital to help entrepreneurs develop emerging technology companies into market leaders. Examples of Ventures West portfolio companies in Biotechnology include Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celator Pharmaceuticals Inc., Novadaq Technologies Inc. and Oncogenex Technologies Inc.  For more information, visit www.ventureswest.com.

About WRF Capital
WRF Capital is the venture investment arm of the Washington Research Foundation, an independent organization founded in 1981 to support research and scholarship at Washington state research institutions.  A leading early-stage investor, WRF Capital partners with entrepreneurs, local universities, and research insitutions to develop leading technology companies.  Examples of WRF Capital's life science companies include Amnis, Corus Pharma, Ekos, Ikaria, Therus, Lumera, Teranode, and Vanson Halosource.  For more information, visit www.wrfcapital.com.

Media and Industry Inquiries:
Mark Litton, Ph.D.
Chief Business Officer, Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc.
(425) 527-2701
Litton@alderbio.com

Investor Relations:
Randall Schatzman, Ph.D.
CEO, Alder Biopharmaceuticals Inc.
(425) 527-2702
Schatzman@alderbio.com