News Release Details

SAN DIEGO, CA and COPENHAGEN, DK, November 13, 2002 - ACADIA Pharmaceuticals announced today the appointment of Paul S. Anderson, Ph.D., to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Anderson is one of the world's most highly respected medical chemists and has nearly 40 years of experience in drug research. Most recently, Dr. Anderson held the position of Vice President, Drug Discovery at Bristol-Myers Squibb. Earlier in his career, he held the positions of Vice President of Chemistry at Merck Sharp and Dohme's West Point facility, and Senior Vice President of Chemical and Physical Sciences at DuPont Pharmaceuticals.

During his tenure with Merck, Dr. Anderson directed numerous highly successful drug discovery efforts including those leading to ZOCOR, the leading cholesterol lowering agent, TRUSOPT, the first carbonic anhydrase inhibitor for topical treatment of glaucoma, and MK-801, one of the industry's most widely-studied central nervous system experimental substances. More recently, he has directed extensive medicinal chemistry efforts at Merck and DuPont committed to discovery of new chemotherapy for Aids. These efforts led to CRIXIVAN, an HIV protease inhibitor, and SUSTIVA, an HIV reverse transcriptase inhibitor.

Over the years, Dr. Anderson has served the American Chemical Society, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Research Council in a variety of senior positions, including President of the American Chemical Society in 1997. He is also the recipient of numerous awards including the E.B. Hershberg Award, the American Chemical Society Award in Industrial Chemistry, and the 2002 Perkin Medal. Dr. Anderson has received honorary doctorates from the University of Vermont and the University of New Hampshire.

"We are very fortunate to be able to tap into Paul Anderson's unique competence," said Mark R. Brann, Ph.D., President and Chief Scientific Officer at ACADIA. "We have many exciting drug discovery programs that will benefit from his extensive experience in pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. In addition to having our first two drug candidates entering clinical trials shortly, ACADIA has several programs rapidly approaching development and we believe that Dr. Anderson's extensive experience will provide an optimal complement to ACADIA's Scientific Advisory Board."

"Dr. Anderson is not only one of the world's finest medicinal chemists, but also one of the few great drug discoverers. His experience will be invaluable for ACADIA in our efforts to advance our drug discovery programs to the clinic," said Uli Hacksell, Ph.D., Chief Executive officer at ACADIA.

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals is a drug discovery and development company that efficiently discovers small molecule drug candidates using its proprietary chemical-genomics platform. ACADIA has successfully applied its platform to generate a broad discovery pipeline that includes advanced programs directed at major diseases, including Parkinson's disease, psychosis, chronic pain, and glaucoma. ACADIA's corporate headquarters as well as its genomics and biological research facilities are located in San Diego, California and its chemistry research facilities are located in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Contact:

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals
Mark R. Brann, President and CSO
+1 858-558-2871

Europe:
Bo-Ragnar Tolf, Ph.D., VP of Chemistry and
Managing Director of ACADIA Pharmaceuticals A/S
+45 4329-3000