MethylGene Announces the Appointment of Mark J. Gergen, as Executive Vice President and COO

Montreal, Canada, February 19, 2013 – MethylGene Inc. (“MethylGene” or the “Company”) (TSX: MYG) today announced that Mark J. Gergen has been appointed to the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, effective immediately. In this new role, Mr. Gergen will have broad responsibility for business operations including finance, business development, human resources, corporate communications and investor relations, as well as a variety of administration functions.

Mr. Gergen is a healthcare industry veteran and most recently was Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. At Amylin, Mr. Gergen was a member of the Executive Committee with broad responsibilities including corporate development, strategic planning, and alliance management. While at Amylin, Mr. Gergen was responsible for the establishment of a number of key partnerships, he also led the dissolution of Amylin’s long term diabetes partnership with Eli Lilly and Company and the subsequent sale of Amylin to Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2012 in a transaction valued at $7 billion.

Prior to Amylin, Mr. Gergen held leadership roles of increasing responsibility in healthcare and life science companies. He was Executive Vice President of CardioNet, Inc. with broad responsibilities including those of CFO and COO. He served as Chief Financial and Development Officer and later CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer of Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. and held key leadership roles for Medtronic. Inc. Mr. Gergen began his career as an attorney and received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Minnesota Law School and his undergraduate degree in business administration from Minot State University. Mr. Gergen has served on a number of private company and organization boards of directors.

“I am pleased to welcome Mark to the MethylGene team at an important juncture in our company’s development” said Dr. Charles Baum, President and CEO. “His experience will be instrumental in accelerating our business plan.”

“I am excited to join Charles and the team at MethylGene,” said Mr. Gergen “The Company has a unique opportunity to help patients by developing novel therapies for unmet medical needs with promising anti-fungal and oncology assets that have the potential to create value for shareholders.”

About MethylGene

MethylGene Inc. (TSX:MYG) is a drug development company that is advancing novel therapeutics for cancer and infectious disease in human clinical trials. The Company’s lead product candidates are: MGCD290, an oral antifungal agent targeting the fungal Hos2 enzyme that is in a Phase II trial for vulvovaginal candidiasis, and MGCD265, a multi-targeted receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is in Phase I/II clinical trials for patients with solid tumors. MethylGene owns all rights to its lead product candidates, and has partnerships with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Taiho Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and EnVivo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for its other pipeline programs.

Investor Relations Contact:

Joseph Walewicz, CFA

Vice President, Business & Corporate Development

MethylGene Inc.

Phone: 514-337-3333 ext. 373

ir@methylgene.com

www.methylgene.com

Thomas Hoffmann

Vice President

The Trout Group LLC

Phone: 646-378-2931

thoffmann@troutgroup.com

www.troutgroup.com

MORE ON THIS TOPIC