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April 2006

Curis Reaches First Preclinical Milestone in Hair Growth Program with Procter & Gamble


April 2006

Curis, Inc. a therapeutic drug development company, today announced that it has reached the first preclinical milestone in a hair growth program with Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals, a division of The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG).

The program is focused upon the potential development of a topical Hedgehog agonist for hair growth disorders, such as male pattern baldness and female pattern hair loss.

As part of the initial agreement signed in September of 2005, P&G agreed to pay Curis up to $2.8 million in preclinical milestones. The first of two preclinical milestones has now been successfully completed.

"This first preclinical milestone represents the successful completion of several initial steps toward our goal of bringing a topical Hedgehog agonist into the clinic for the treatment of hair growth disorders," said Daniel R. Passeri, President and Chief Executive Officer of Curis, Inc.

"We are pleased by the progress that the joint research team has made, particularly since our collaboration with Procter & Gamble began only five months ago.

We are hopeful that this will be the first of several development achievements that will allow Curis and Procter & Gamble to advance a Hedgehog agonist into clinical development and ultimately succeed in providing an effective treatment for hair growth disorders.

Under our collaboration with P&G, Curis has retained an option to co-develop this product from IND filing through Phase II trials. We believe that this co-development structure provides an opportunity for Curis to create additional value for our shareholders."

About the Procter & Gamble Curis Collaboration

In September 2005, Curis and Procter & Gamble entered into a research and development agreement to evaluate and develop potential treatments for hair growth disorders utilizing Curis' Hedgehog agonist technology. Future efforts may be expanded to address other skin disorders.

Under the terms of the agreement, Curis has granted P&G an exclusive, worldwide royalty-bearing license for the non-systemic, dermatological use of Curis' Hedgehog agonist technology, via topical administration.

Curis will have an option to co-develop a development candidate through Phase II clinical trials, should an investigational new drug application be filed with the FDA. Curis has retained rights to certain non-systemic applications of the Hedgehog agonist technology, specifically for local cardiovascular and ex vivo use.

Curis has also retained rights to veterinary applications of the technology, to which P&G has the first option to negotiate a commercial arrangement.

About Curis, Inc.

Curis, Inc. is a therapeutic drug development company. The Company's technology focus is on regulatory pathways that control repair and regeneration. Curis' product development involves the use of proteins or small molecules to modulate these pathways.

Curis has successfully used this technology and product development approach to produce several promising drug candidates in the fields of cancer (under two collaborations with Genentech, one of which includes a co-development arrangement for a basal cell carcinoma product candidate that is currently in Phase I clinical trials), neurological disorders (under collaboration with Wyeth), hair growth (under collaboration with Procter & Gamble), kidney and other diseases (licensed to Ortho Biotech Products and under development at Centocor, both subsidiaries of Johnson & Johnson), and cardiovascular disease.

Curis also possesses robust small molecule drug screening technologies and preclinical scientific expertise that Curis believes it can use to create a sustainable drug candidate pipeline including, for example, its Spinal Muscular Atrophy research program (under sponsored research agreement with the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation).

For more information, please visit the Curis web site at www.curis.com.

Cautionary Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning Curis' hope that the achievement of this preclinical milestone will be the first of several development achievements that will ultimately allow Curis and Procter & Gamble to advance a Hedgehog agonist into clinical development, as well as Curis' belief that its co-development structure provides an opportunity for Curis to create additional value for its shareholders.

Forward-looking statements used in this press release may contain the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "seeks", "estimates" or similar expressions.

These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause Curis' actual results to be materially different from those indicated by such forward-looking statements.

Actual results can be affected by a number of important factors including, among other things: adverse results in Curis' and its strategic collaborators' and licensees' product development programs; delays in enrolling patients for its basal cell carcinoma clinical trial, difficulties or delays in obtaining or maintaining required regulatory approvals for products being developed by Curis and its collaborators and licensees; Curis' ability to obtain or maintain the patent and other proprietary intellectual property protection necessary for the development and commercialization of products based on its technologies; changes in or Curis' inability to execute its business plan; the risk that Curis does not obtain the additional funding required to conduct research and development of its product candidates, fund its co-development obligations under its collaboration with Genentech and execute its business plan; unplanned cash requirements and expenditures; risks relating to Curis' ability to enter into and maintain important strategic collaborations, including its ability to maintain its current collaboration agreements with Genentech, Wyeth, and Procter & Gamble as well as our license agreement with Ortho Biotech Products; the risk that competitors will discover and develop signaling pathway-based or other competing therapeutics faster and more successfully than Curis and its collaborators are able to; and other risk factors identified in Curis' most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and subsequent reports periodically filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent the Company's views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing its views as of any subsequent date.

Curis disclaims any intention or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.