May 18, 2009

AVEO Pharmaceuticals to Present at Several Key Upcoming Medical and Industry Conferences

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Progression-free Survival Data from AV-951 Phase 2 Trial in Advanced Kidney Cancer to be Highlighted at ASCO

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 18, 2009– AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company leveraging breakthrough discoveries in cancer biology to discover, develop and commercialize targeted oncology therapies, today announced that the company will be participating in several upcoming medical and industry conferences.

Elan Ezickson, chief business officer at AVEO, will participate in an Expert Panel titled “New Developments in Solid Tumors, Focusing on GU and GI Cancers” at 8:10 a.m. EDT, as well as present a corporate update on AVEO at 9:30 a.m. EDT, at the Leerink Swann Novel Cancer Therapeutics Roundtable Conference on Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City.

Murray Robinson, Ph.D., senior vice president, oncology, at AVEO, will participate in a panel titled “New Developments in Targeted Cancer Therapies” at 10:00 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 20, 2009, during the 2009 BIO National Convention at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, GA. This session will explore some of the new developments in the area of targeted cancer therapy, including emerging first- and best-in class compounds currently in clinical trials that hold promise to augment the limited number of currently marketed targeted therapies and extend survival and quality of life for cancer patients.

In addition, AVEO will present data from its recently completed Phase 2 trial of its oral, triple VEGF receptor inhibitor AV-951 at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida. The data will be discussed during a poster session at 2:00 p.m. EDT on Friday, May 29, 2009 entitled “Updated activity and safety results of a phase II randomized discontinuation trial (RDT) of AV-951, a potent and selective VEGFR1, 2 and 3 kinase inhibitor, in patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC),” abstract number 5032.

“This is an exciting time at AVEO and we are pleased to participate in these upcoming events,” stated Tuan Ha-Ngoc, president and chief executive officer of AVEO Pharmaceuticals. “In particular, we appreciate the opportunity to share our full Phase 2 data with the medical community and look forward to initiating a global Phase 3 trial for AV-951 in advanced renal cell cancer later this year.”

About AV-951

AV-951, an investigational new drug is a novel, highly potent and selective inhibitor of VEGF receptors 1, 2 and 3, exhibiting picomolar inhibitory activity against all three receptors. Angiogenesis inhibition has demonstrated benefit for patients with a wide range of cancer types, including renal cell carcinoma, metastatic breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and non-small cell lung cancer. Due to its potency and specificity, AVEO believes AV-951 may enable maximal inhibition of the VEGF pathway, while avoiding side effects associated with off-target activity. Such a profile may enable AV-951 to be more readily combined with standard chemotherapy as well as other targeted therapies, potentially increasing the breadth of its clinical utility. In addition, AVEO has evaluated AV-951 using its Human Response Platform (HRP™), a unique set of engineered tumor models that provide further insight into potential clinical settings, combinability with other anti-cancer agents, tumor subtypes and responsive patient populations.

AVEO recently completed a Phase 2 placebo-controlled, randomized discontinuation trial assessing the efficacy and safety of once-daily, oral AV-951 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). In addition, AVEO is currently conducting multiple ongoing clinical trials of AV-951 including a Phase 1b trial in combination with temsirolimus (Torisel™), an approved mTOR inhibitor, in patients with mRCC; a Phase 1 trial in combination with the FOLFOX6 chemotherapy regimen in patients with advanced colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal cancers; a Phase 1b/2a trial in combination with paclitaxel (Taxol™) in patients with metastatic breast cancer; and a Phase 1b/2a trial as monotherapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

About AVEO

AVEO is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel, targeted cancer therapeutics. AVEO’s proprietary, integrated cancer biology platform enables the company to pursue highly efficient drug development strategies in oncology that increase the probability of clinical success and provides a discovery engine for high-value targets and therapies. This approach has resulted in a balanced pipeline of novel cancer therapies focused on well-validated targets (VEGFR, EGFR) and promising novel targets (HGF, FGFR, ErbB3 and NOTCH), as well as collaborations with Eli Lilly, Merck, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Schering-Plough and Biogen Idec. The company’s lead product, AV-951, a triple VEGF receptor inhibitor, recently completed Phase 2 clinical development in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer and is expected to enter Phase 3 development in 2009. Through a combination of internal drug discovery and selective in-licensing of targeted therapeutics, AVEO is building a diversified product pipeline and moving toward its vision of becoming a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.aveopharma.com.