Astex Therapeutics to Present at Biotech Showcase 2011

Cambridge, UK, 5th January 2011. Astex Therapeutics, the UK-based biotechnology company developing targeted therapies for oncology and virology, today announced that Harren Jhoti, the Company’s CEO, will present at the Biotech Showcase 2011 at 10.45 am (PT) on Tuesday, January 11th in Mission II Room at Parc 55 Wyndham, San Francisco. Dr. Jhoti's presentation will include an update on the progress of Astex’s proprietary and partnered discovery and development pipelines including the Phase II clinical development programmes of the Company’s three clinical stage oncology drug candidates AT13387, AT7519 and AT9283.

The presentation will also be available on Astex's website, www.astex-therapeutics.com following the event.

Contact

Jeremy Carmichael, PhD Director of Business Development Astex Therapeutics Ltd 436 Cambridge Science Park Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 0QA, UK Tel: +44(0)1223 226200 Fax: +44(0)1223 226201 j.carmichael@astex-therapeutics.com www.astex-therapeutics.com

About Astex Therapeutics

Astex is a UK-based biotechnology company that discovers and develops novel small molecule therapeutics. Using its pioneering fragment-based drug discovery platform Pyramid™, Astex has built a pipeline of molecularly-targeted oncology drugs, of which three are currently being tested in clinical trials with a number of others in pre-clinical development. In addition to its proprietary research programmes, Astex’s productivity in lead discovery has been endorsed through numerous partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies, including AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis.

For further information on Astex please visit the Company’s website at www.astex-therapeutics.com