The Medicines Company Announces Option Grants Under NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 5635

PARSIPPANY, NJ--(Marketwire - July 15, 2009) - The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) announced today that in accordance with NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 5635, the Company issued new inducement stock options to ten new hires due to additional hiring in connection with its global expansion.

The inducement stock options covers 10,000 shares of common stock and are classified as non-qualified stock options with an exercise price equal to the fair market value on the grant date. The options have a 10-year term and vest over four years as follows: 25 percent of these options will vest on the date one year from the optionee’s hire date, the remainder will vest in monthly increments during the following 36 months (in all cases subject to the terms and conditions of the Company’s 2009 Equity Inducement Plan).

About The Medicines Company

The Medicines Company (NASDAQ: MDCO) is focused on advancing the treatment of critical care patients through the delivery of innovative, cost-effective medicines to the worldwide hospital marketplace. The Company markets Angiomax® (bivalirudin) in the United States and other countries for use in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty, and Cleviprex® (clevidipine butyrate) injectable emulsion in the United States for the reduction of blood pressure when oral therapy is not feasible or not desirable. The Company also has two products in late stage development, cangrelor, an investigational antiplatelet agent and oritavancin, a semi-synthetic lipoglycopeptide antibiotic currently awaiting EU regulatory approval. The Company’s pipeline also includes a serine protease inhibitor, CU2010, in early-stage development. The Medicines Company’s website is www.themedicinescompany.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release about The Medicines Company that are not purely historical, and all other statements that are not purely historical, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provisions under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Without limiting the foregoing, the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects” and “estimates” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company’s actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Important factors that may cause or contribute to such differences include: whether the Company will be able to obtain regulatory approvals; whether the Company’s products and product candidates will advance in the clinical trial process on a timely basis or at all; whether clinical trial results will warrant submission of applications for regulatory approval; whether physicians, patients and other key decision-makers will accept clinical trial results; whether the Company will be able to successfully distribute and market its approved products; and such other factors as are set forth in the risk factors detailed from time to time in the Company’s periodic reports and registration statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission including, without limitation, the risk factors detailed in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-Q filed on May 11, 2009, which are incorporated herein by reference. The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.