DPII Discovery Partners

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Discovery Partners International, Inc. (NASDAQ:DPII) announced today that they have successfully agreed on their collaboration with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. DPI will collaborate with Ono on multiple hit-to-lead and lead optimization projects. Financial terms of the collaboration and the therapeutic focus of the collaboration were not disclosed. "We are very pleased that Ono has chosen to collaborate with Discovery Partners to find new leads for their drug discovery programs," stated Riccardo Pigliucci, Chairman and CEO of Discovery Partners. "The integrated drug discovery platform at DPI is enabled from target to optimized leads. Our collaboration model complements the needs of our partners to support any or all phases of the drug discovery process and to help a partner advance its programs. This collaboration with Ono is a strong endorsement of our drug discovery capabilities and our collaborative approach, and will especially leverage our expertise in medicinal chemistry." About Discovery Partners International, Inc. Discovery Partners International, Inc. (DPI) is a technology-driven drug discovery company, offering collaborations and services complementing the internal capabilities of pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies. DPI has the platform, the process, and the people, to carry out drug discovery from target to optimized leads. DPI has actively contributed to dozens of drug discovery collaborations. Discovery Partners International is headquartered in San Diego, California and has operations in the United States and Europe. Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty. These include statements related to the ability to identify potential lead compounds for Ono and Discovery Partners' ability to leverage its medicinal chemistry expertise in the collaboration. Discovery Partners' actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward looking statements due to risks and uncertainties that exist in its operations, collaborative relationships (including the alliance), development efforts and business environment, including technological risks, the risk that compounds identified in the collaboration will not be further developed and risks and other uncertainties more fully described in Discovery Partners' annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Discovery Partners' other SEC reports. DATASOURCE: Discovery Partners International, Inc. CONTACT: Riccardo Pigliucci, Chief Executive Officer, or Craig Kussman, Chief Financial Officer, both of Discovery Partners International, +1-858-228- 4113,

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