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Vion Licenses Melasyn(R) Rights

NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VION) announced today that the Company had entered into a worldwide non-exclusive license agreement for its Melasyn(R) technology with B&P Company, Inc. of Dayton, Ohio. B&P Company plans to develop a line of cosmetic products incorporating Melasyn(R). Information on B&P Company can be found at http://www.frownies.com.

Melasyn(R) is a synthetic form of melanin that dissolves readily in water. Melanin is a pigment formed by cells in the skin that gives skin its color and protects it from sun damage by absorbing ultraviolet rays. The terms of the agreement do not include any upfront or milestone payments. If products including Vion's technology are developed, Vion will receive a royalty based on sales in countries where it has issued patents.

Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is developing novel agents for the treatment of cancer. Vion has two agents in clinical trials: CLORETAZINE(TM) (VNP40101M), a unique sulfonylhydrazine alkylating agent, is being evaluated in five clinical trials, including a Phase III trial in combination with Ara-C in relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia, and Triapine(R), a potent inhibitor of a key step in DNA synthesis, is being evaluated in combination with gemcitabine in a Phase II trial in pancreatic cancer and additional Phase I and II trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. In preclinical studies, Vion is evaluating KS119 and KS119w, hypoxia-selective compounds from the sulfonylhydrazine class, and heterocyclic hydrazones. The Company is also seeking development partners for TAPET(R), its modified Salmonella vector used to deliver anticancer agents directly to tumors. For additional information on Vion and its product development programs, visit the Company's Internet web site at http://www.vionpharm.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risk factors which may cause Vion's plans to differ or results to vary from those expected, including Vion's ability to secure external sources of funding to continue its operations, the inability to access capital and funding on favorable terms, continued operating losses and the inability to continue operations as a result, its dependence on regulatory approval for its products, delayed or unfavorable results of drug trials, the possibility that favorable results of earlier clinical trials are not predictive of safety and efficacy results in later clinical trials, the need for additional research and testing, and a variety of other risks set forth from time to time in Vion's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to the risks discussed in Vion's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004. Except in special circumstances in which a duty to update arises under law when prior disclosure becomes materially misleading in light of subsequent events, Vion does not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events orcircumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

COMPANY CONTACT: Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Alan Kessman, CEO
Howard B. Johnson, President
(203) 498-4210 phone

SOURCE Vion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Web Site: http://www.vionpharm.com http://www.frownies.com

Lucas' struggles shift perspective

An athlete's battle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia makes her time on the diamond dually sweet.

By Mark Myers
Collegian Staff Writer
April 27, 2005 - While in the hospital with leukemia, Penn State softball player Kari Lucas started to feel better and decided to exercise to get into shape for the upcoming season.

So the sophomore did an impromptu Stairmaster session, running up and down the stairs of the hospital. When she returned to her room, she told the doctor what she had been doing for the last hour.

"He almost had a heart attack," Lucas said, laughing. "He was really mad and explained to me that my blood count was so low that I could have had [a heart attack]."

She can laugh about it now; she has been in remission for six months.

Signs began in the summer of 2004. Lucas, a State College native, noticed what appeared to be an inconspicuous rash on her right ankle, assuming it was poison ivy. She then began to notice what looked like bug bites and went to her doctor, who prescribed medicine for an allergic reaction, which Lucas took for a week.

A week later, Lucas noticed swelling in her neck, near the lymph nodes. After analyzing several blood tests, doctors discovered and diagnosed Lucas with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. She was admitted to Hershey Medical Center on June 3, 2004.

"When I first heard about the disease, I cried. That was probably the only time," Lucas said. "But honestly, after that I always had an upbeat attitude and I just kept saying I won't be sick."

The news hit her parents a little harder.

"It felt like all of the blood in my body had been drained out, I went completely numb," said Don Lucas, Kari Lucas' father. "It was the longest drive to Hershey in my life. Leukemia was the last thing we were expecting to hear."

Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) is an acquired type of leukemia, one that is not inherited like Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), its sister disease.

Lucas remained in the hospital for month to undergo treatment. The chemotherapy treatment for AML is short, but the doses are heavier. Lucas said her hospitalization was only for precautionary reasons because doctors did not want to expose her to germs while her immune system was low.

Through all of her treatment, Lucas' mind was never far from the softball diamond. The Penn Valley High School graduate's original passion was baseball, but Lucas realized that her future in the sport was limited when the boys she was playing with became more physical than she.

Lucas decided to try softball and earned all-state shortstop honors twice, even winning Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in softball her junior season. And when Lucas was in the hospital, all she wanted to do was get back on the field.

As a freshman last season, Lucas started 28 games between second and third base. After the nightmarish summer she had, Lucas said if felt "really good" to get back on the field as a pinch runner in a game against Missouri on Feb. 18 during the Crimson Classic at Alabama.

"All [the doctors] wanted was to keep me away from infection, there was never any talk about softball," Lucas said. "Even if [the doctors] told me I couldn't play anymore, it wasn't even like I would listen anyway."

For Lucas, religious faith played a big part in the recovery. A practicing Methodist, she said that her faith grew a lot through the ordeal as she received inspiration from her family. She also received a boost in morale from another cancer survivor, six-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

Lucas said she began read Armstrong's book, It's not about my bike: It's about my life, but said that her dad had to finish the story for her because she couldn't read about Armstrong going through chemotherapy while she was going through it herself.

"We would read parts that were about things that she was going through at the time," Don Lucas said. "I remember this one part when he was thinking about quitting, and I think that's when she realized that this wouldn't be easy."

Today, six months after finishing her treatments, the elementary education major is in the best shape she's ever been, something she attributes to her take-nothing-for-granted attitude.

Lucas said that throughout her ordeal said she never felt "like a cancer patient," nor does she today.

"I look back on my experience like, 'Oh that was nothing big,' " she said. "That is why I believe I did so well with it. Because I just treated it like another conditioning work out I had to get through or another sprint I had to complete. That was my mindset the whole time."

Her mindset was solid because she believed that she was meant to do something to help other people and believed that by getting cancer is that something. She hopes that surviving cancer inspires her teammates to not take things for granted because, as she says, "When you strike out, don't get upset because you always get another chance."

Lucas is now living that chance.

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