Research Update

Sareum Holdings PLC
02 October 2007


For Immediate Release                                             2 October 2007


                              SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
                          ("Sareum" or the "Company")


                      Research Update: Oncology Portfolio

Sareum Holdings plc (Sareum) (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug
discovery company, is pleased to announce progress with two additional oncology
research programs established to discover novel small molecule compounds that
are effective against important cancer drug discovery targets.

The first of the discovery programmes targets Polo-Like Kinase 1 (PLK1). PLK1 is
a key regulator of cell division and increased levels of PLK1 are present in
many cancer types. Reduction of PLK1 activity has been shown to lead to
decreased tumour size.

Sareum's innovative Template Screening platform has successfully identified
numerous novel chemical series that inhibit the enzyme activity of PLK1.
Importantly, x-ray protein structure analysis has shown precisely how these
compounds interact with PLK1, which will greatly assist rapid medicinal
chemistry advancement to clinical candidates.

The second program targets the B-raf gene. Abnormally high B-raf activity has
been associated with increased tumour aggressiveness and decreased survival in
many types of cancer, particularly skin cancer as well as cancers of the colon
and thyroid. Reducing B-raf activity has been shown to prevent tumour cell
survival.

Sareum's expertise in protein structure analysis has enabled the successful
determination of high resolution structural information which will be invaluable
in identifying small molecule leads and progressing them to drug candidates.

These programmes are currently wholly owned by Sareum and form part of a robust
and expanding internal oncology portfolio, which also includes the CHK1, Aurora
and FLT Kinase programmes which were announced in February and May 2007.

Commenting on the announcement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim
Mitchell, said: "These discoveries represent a significant development in
Sareum's internal drug candidate portfolio with key assets identified against
important cancer drug discovery targets. We are actively seeking licencing
partners for these programmes to assist the advancement of novel chemical series
through to clinical candidate nomination."

For Further Information:

Sareum Holdings plc                                      01223 497700
Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer

Buchanan Communications                                  020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson

Grant Thornton Corporate Finance                         020 7383 5100
Philip Secrett, Colin Aaronson


Notes for editors:

About PLK1

PLK1 is a protein kinase and higher levels of this enzyme have been shown to be
present in many types of cancer including non-small-cell lung cancer, head and
neck cancer, esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, melanomas, breast cancer,
ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, colorectal cancer, gliomas, and thyroid
cancer. These higher PLK1 levels have also been linked to patients with a poor
disease prognosis.

In addition, reducing PLK1 enzyme activity or protein levels has been shown to
induce tumour cell death in a variety of biological model systems. The normal
cellular role of PLK1 is as a critical regulator of cell division during mitosis
and interfering with this process has been shown to lead to the programmed cell
death (apoptosis) of tumour cells.

Therapeutically a PLK1 inhibitor would be used as an anti-mitotic agent in
cancer therapy. One current class of highly effective anti-mitotic agents in the
clinic are the Taxanes, which disrupt microtubule function and prevent mitotic
progression. Both dose-limiting toxicity and more importantly multiple types of
drug resistance to this class have prevented these drugs from becoming more
universal anti-cancer agents. For these reasons there is an opportunity to
develop alternative anti-mitotic agents such as PLK1 inhibitors into new
effective cancer treatments.

About B-raf

Many cancers have been shown to have mutations in the B-RAF gene which cause a
large increase in the enzyme activity of the B-raf protein kinase. These
mutations have been observed in over 60% of malignant melanoma (a form of skin
cancer) as well as colorectal, thyroid, cholangiocarcinoma, lung adenocarcinoma
and glioblastoma. Introduction of these mutant forms of B-raf into experimental
models have reproduced and sustained tumourigenesis. In addition, reducing the
levels of mutant B-raf or its enzyme activity in cells has been shown to prevent
tumour cell survival. In pre-clinical studies, Small molecule B-raf inhibitors
have been shown to reduce tumour size and slow tumour progression without
evident side effects.

Melanoma is the most fatal form of skin cancer and has shown a dramatic increase
in disease incidence in developed countries due to changes in life style (15
fold increase in the last 40 years in the US). There are 7000 new patients
diagnosed with melanoma each year in just the UK alone with 1500 deaths per year
reported from the disease (1 in 100 cancer deaths). The survival rates for
metastatic melanoma are extremely poor at less than 5% after 5 years with no
effective therapies currently available.

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquartered
in Cambridge, UK. The Company was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugs
for the treatment of cancer. Sareum's unique approach aims to halve the time it
takes to discover new drug candidates.

A structure-based approach to drug discovery relies on knowledge of the
three-dimensional structure of the proteins that cause disease. Once the
structure is known, potential drugs are designed to 'lock-in' to the protein
with the aim of reversing or arresting a disease's progression. Knowledge of the
structure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to their target protein
assists greatly in the development of high-quality drug candidates. Determining
structure is a complex task and requires leading-edge equipment and experienced
staff. Sareum's approach to structure determination utilises its proprietary
protein expression platform in order to produce multiple recombinant proteins
that accelerate structure determination using x-ray crystallography.

Once the structure is determined, the Company's innovative fragment screening
platform is used to identify novel chemical templates designed to interact with
the target protein. Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinal chemistry
platform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the most promising into
potential drug candidates.

Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to larger
pharmaceutical companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.
This is funded by provision of its specialist drug discovery capabilities to
partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Sareum joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004 and
trades under the symbol SAR. For further information, please visit
www.sareum.co.uk




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