Research Update

Sareum Holdings PLC
06 March 2008


For immediate release                                               6 March 2008


                              SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC
                          ("Sareum" or the "Company")


                     Research Update: Oncology Portfolio

Sareum Holdings plc (Sareum) (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug
discovery company, is pleased to announce an additional in-house drug discovery
programme. Novel small molecule compounds have been discovered that are
effective against an important cancer drug discovery target and associated
patent applications have been filed.

This programme targets the enzyme Fatty Acid Synthase (FASN). High levels of
FASN are present in most cancer types and are associated with diminished patient
survival. Reduction of FASN activity has been reported to lead to cancer cell
death and decreased tumour size in many different cancer models.

Sareum has used its expertise in small molecule drug discovery to identify novel
chemical compounds that inhibit the activity of FASN and show efficacy in cancer
cell survival models.  The Company aims to develop these compounds into
potential therapies for a wide range of cancers.

This programme is currently wholly owned by Sareum and forms part of a robust
and expanding internal oncology portfolio, which also includes the CHK1, Aurora,
FLT, PLK1 and B-RAF Kinase programmes which were announced in February, May and
October 2007.

Commenting on the announcement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim
Mitchell, said: "This program represent a significant development in Sareum's
internal drug candidate portfolio with key assets identified against important
cancer drug discovery targets. The development and ultimate commercialisation
of these programs is a key value driver for the Company."



For Further Information:

Sareum Holdings plc                                                 01223 497700

Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer
Buchanan Communications                                            020 7466 5000

Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance                                   020 7383 5100

Philip Secrett, Colin Aaronson

Notes for editors:

About FASN

The FASN gene is significantly up-regulated in many types of cancer, including
cancers of the breast, lung, prostate, colon, blood, skin, ovary, pancreas and
stomach, and FASN expression parallels increased cancer aggressiveness and
correlates with poorer patient survival. FASN over-expression is considered to
be one of the most common molecular changes in cancer cells, but is expressed at
minimum or undetectable levels in most normal tissues. Blocking FASN expression
or activity results in apoptosis of tumour cells and reduction of tumour volumes
in cancer models.

FASN inhibitors have been shown to be effective in killing cancer cells and
reducing tumour volumes as stand-alone agents. They can also confer cancer cells
with higher levels of sensitivity to both traditional anti-cancer
chemotherapeutics and the latest targeted therapies. Analysis of normal tissues
following FASN inhibitor treatment in cancer models shows no adverse effects.
For these reasons, FASN is considered to be an attractive target for anti-cancer
therapy.

About Sareum Holdings plc

Sareum Holdings plc is a structure-based drug discovery business headquartered
in Cambridge, UK. The Company was formed in August 2003 to discover new drugs
for the treatment of cancer.  Sareum's unique approach aims to halve the time it
takes to discover new drug candidates.

A structure-based approach to drug discovery relies on knowledge of the
three-dimensional structure of the proteins that cause disease.  Once the
structure is known, potential drugs are designed to 'lock-in' to the protein
with the aim of reversing or arresting a disease's progression.  Knowledge of
the structure of the potential drugs and how they 'lock-in' to their target
protein assists greatly in the development of high-quality drug candidates.
Determining structure is a complex task and requires leading-edge equipment and
experienced staff.  Sareum's approach to structure determination utilises its
proprietary protein expression platform in order to produce multiple recombinant
proteins that accelerate structure determination using x-ray crystallography.

Once the structure is determined, the Company's innovative fragment screening
platform is used to identify novel chemical templates designed to interact with
the target protein.  Sareum then uses its high-throughput medicinal chemistry
platform to rapidly optimise these molecules and develop the most promising into
potential drug candidates.

Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to larger
pharmaceutical companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage.
This is funded by provision of its specialist drug discovery capabilities to
partners in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries.

Sareum joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004 and
trades under the symbol SAR.  For further information, please visit
www.sareum.co.uk


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange