Press Releases

April 3, 2006

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

April 3, 2006, Osaka, Japan --- Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited ("Takeda") announced today that it has entered into a joint research agreement for the period of three years with Arius Research Inc., Toronto, Canada ("Arius") in which Takeda will have an exclusive access to certain number of functional mouse monoclonal antibodies that have anti-cancer activities.

Upon conclusion of the agreement, Takeda will pay to Arius US$1 million of upfront and will acquire Arius's stock in exchange for the cash contribution to Arius of US$1 million, and also will fund research activities of Arius for the three years. Other specific economic conditions were not disclosed.

Takeda will identify the targets for such monoclonal antibodies, and both parties will enter into individual license agreements for selected targets if Takeda decides to pursue development of therapeutic antibodies on the targets. Arius will also be entitled to a milestone payments based on progress through clinical development plus royalties on net sales for any licensed product. Takeda will assume the responsibility and costs of development and commerciali-zation, while Arius will have an option to co-develop any product. Takeda will have an exclusive marketing right worldwide once the products originating from this agreement become commercially available.

"We expect that the unique approach of Arius, which is to select the functional antibodies first, will lead to an improved success ratio of developing therapeutic antibodies for a variety of cancers", said Shigenori Ohkawa, Ph D, General Manager of Pharmaceutical Research Division of Takeda. "We believe that this joint research agreement with Arius will contribute to enhancing our cancer franchise as one of our core therapeutic areas for future growth."

"Takeda has committed extensive scientific and development resources to antibodies for cancer and we are excited by the opportunity to work together to bring our products forward" said Dr. David Young, President of Arius. "A discovery partnership with Takeda will help us exploit our technology and achieve secure research funding and support from a premier pharmaceutical company."

# # #

About functional monoclonal antibodies

Functional antibodies are biological molecules that trigger death in cancer cells but not healthy cells. Functional antibodies target molecules carried on the outside of a cancer cell membrane known as antigens. These cell surface proteins are decorated with sugar chains in distinctive arrangements that can be used as targets for therapeutic monoclonal antibodies.

About Arius

ARIUS Research Inc. is a biotechnology company dedicated to personalizing cancer therapy through the discovery and development of novel anticancer monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). Established in 1999, ARIUS has built a proprietary technology platform, FunctionFIRST™, that rapidly and cost-effectively identifies powerful MAbs targeting a variety of cancer indications. ARIUS is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "ARI".