Paladin Labs Inc. Receives $100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations Grant for Innovative Global Health Research From Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

MONTREAL, CANADA--(Marketwire - October 23, 2009) - Paladin Labs Inc. (TSX: PLB), a leading Canadian specialty pharmaceutical company announced today that its Paladin Biosciences division has received a US$100,000 Grand Challenges Explorations grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The grant will support an innovative global health research project conducted by Dr. Rajan George, the Chief Technology Officer of Paladin Biosciences, titled “Dendritic cell receptor-targeted malaria vaccines”.

Dr. George’s project is one of 76 grants announced by the Gates Foundation in the third funding round of Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help scientists around the world explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve health in developing countries. The grants were provided to scientists in 16 countries on five continents.

To receive funding, Dr. George showed in a two-page application how his idea falls outside current scientific paradigms and might lead to significant advances in global health. The initiative is highly competitive, receiving almost 3,000 proposals in this round.

Paladin Biosciences will use its proprietary Chimigen® Platform Technology to produce a malaria vaccine that targets the parasite at various stages of the infection, and test the vaccine in the laboratory for immunogenicity. The Chimigen® Platform Technology is a dendritic cell receptor-targeted approach to produce highly immunogenic vaccine that induces both antibody and cell-mediated immune responses without the need for an adjuvant.

“We are honored to be selected for this Grand Challenges Explorations grant, and we look forward to applying our novel Chimigen® Platform Technology to the development of a malaria vaccine that may one day make a real impact on global health,” commented Dr. George. The Chimigen® Platform Technology is currently being used by Paladin Biosciences to develop therapeutic agents for hepatitis B and C, alphavirus and influenza virus infections.

“The winners of these grants show the bold thinking we need to tackle some of the world’s greatest health challenges,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program (http://www.gatesfoundation.org/global-health/Pages/overview.aspx). “I’m excited about their ideas and look forward to seeing some of these exploratory projects turn into life-saving breakthroughs.”

About Grand Challenges Explorations

Grand Challenges Explorations is a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Gates Foundation to promote innovation in global health. The program uses an agile, streamlined grant process - applications are limited to two pages, and preliminary data are not required. Proposals are reviewed and selected by a committee of foundation staff and external experts, and grant decisions are made within approximately three months of the close of the funding round.

Applications for the current round of Grand Challenges Explorations are being accepted through November 2, 2009. Grant application instructions, including the list of topics for which proposals are currently being accepted, are available at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations.

About Paladin Labs Inc.

Paladin Labs Inc., headquartered in Montreal, Canada, is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring or in-licensing innovative pharmaceutical products for the Canadian market. With this strategy, a focused national sales team and proven marketing expertise, Paladin has evolved into one of Canada’s leading specialty pharmaceutical companies. Paladin’s shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol PLB. For more information about Paladin, please visit the Company’s web site at www.paladinlabs.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and predictions. These forward-looking statements, by their nature, necessarily involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. The Company considers the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable at the time they were prepared, but cautions that these assumptions regarding the future events, many of which are beyond the control of the Company and its subsidiaries, may ultimately prove to be incorrect. Factors and risks, which could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations, are discussed in the annual report as well as in the Company’s Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2008. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information or future events and except as required by law. For additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to these forward-looking statements, investors should consult the Company’s ongoing quarterly fillings, annual report and Annual Information Form and other fillings found on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.