Drug Development Experts Nicole Onetto, M.D., and Eric Rowinsky, M.D. Join Symphony ViDA Board of Directors

Combined Experience Includes Integral Involvement in Development of Multiple
Blockbuster Oncology Products, Including Erbitux(r), Tarceva(r) and Taxol(r) 


WALTHAM, Mass., Jan. 12, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OXiGENE, Inc. (Nasdaq:OXGN)
(XSSE:OXGN), a clinical-stage, biopharmaceutical company developing novel
therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases, announced today that cancer drug
development experts Nicole Onetto, M.D., Senior Vice President and Chief
Medical Officer of ZymoGenetics, Inc., and Eric K. Rowinsky, M.D., Executive
Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of ImClone Systems, Inc., a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Eli Lilly and Company, have joined the Board of
Directors of Symphony ViDA, Inc. Symphony ViDA is a drug development company
established in October 2008 by Symphony Capital Partners, in collaboration with
OXiGENE, to fund and accelerate the development of OXi4503 for oncology and
ZYBRESTAT(tm) for ophthalmology. In addition to joining the Symphony ViDA
Board, Drs. Onetto and Rowinsky will serve as advisors to the Symphony ViDA
Development Committee and the ZYBRESTAT Advisory Committee, which oversee the
development of OXi4503 and ZYBRESTAT for ophthalmology as well as ZYBRESTAT for
oncology. 

Dr. Onetto has over twenty years of clinical drug development experience at
leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and has served as the Chief
Medical Officer of ZymoGenetics since September 2005. Prior to joining
ZymoGenetics, Dr. Onetto was Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer
at OSI Pharmaceuticals, where she headed the development organization and led
the registrational program for Tarceva(r) for lung and pancreatic cancer. Prior
to that role, Dr. Onetto served as Senior Vice President of Medical Affairs at
Gilead Sciences and was also a Senior Executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS)
in the oncology organization. While at BMS, she was the International Project
Leader for Taxol(r) and played a key role in the filing of the initial Taxol
NDA as well several supplemental NDAs. She also held clinical research
positions of increasing responsibility at NeXstar Pharmaceuticals, Immunex and
Hoechst. Dr. Onetto holds a Bachelor of Arts from the Academy of Paris
(France), a Masters of Science in Pharmacology from the University of Montreal
(Canada), a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Paris (France) and
is also qualified in pediatrics and hematology/oncology. 

Dr. Rowinsky has served as the Chief Medical Officer of ImClone since February
2005. Dr. Rowinsky was also a Clinical Professor of Medicine (Division of
Medical Oncology) at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San
Antonio, Texas from 1996 to 2006. More recently, Dr. Rowinsky held the position
of Director of the Institute of Drug Development at the Cancer Therapy and
Research Center's Institute for Drug Development (IDD) from 2002 to 2004 and
was the Director of Clinical Research at the IDD from 1996 to 2002. In
addition, he held the SBC Endowed Chair for Early Drug Development at the IDD.
Dr. Rowinsky also served as an Associate Professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins
University until 1996. Dr. Rowinsky's research and clinical interests include
preclinical, translational, and early clinical and pharmacological studies of
novel anticancer drugs, as well as discerning and evaluating developmental and
regulatory strategies. Dr. Rowinsky has been a longstanding National Cancer
Institute principal investigator on U01 anticancer drug development grants and
has been integrally involved in pivotal clinical and preclinical investigations
which led to the development of Taxol(r) (paclitaxel), Taxotere(r) (docetaxel),
Hycamtin(r) (topotecan), Camptosar(r) (irinotecan), Tarceva(r) (erlotinib) and
Iressa(r) (gefitinib), among others. He is the Editor-in-Chief of
Investigational New Drugs, and an Associate Editor of Cancer Research, Clinical
Cancer Research, Annals of Oncology, and several other oncology journals and
has published over 250 papers in both the preclinical and clinical research
fields. He served on the Board of Scientific Counselors of the National Cancer
Institute from 2004 to 2007 and served as program committee co-chairman of the
16th EORTC-NCI-AACR Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 2004. Dr. Rowinsky
received a B.A. degree from New York University and an M.D. degree from the
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. Following his residency in internal
medicine, he completed fellowship training in medical oncology at the Johns
Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

John Kollins, Chief Executive Officer of OXiGENE, commented, "We welcome Drs.
Onetto and Rowinsky to the Symphony ViDA Board of Directors. Their insights
into cancer mechanisms, deep and broad expertise in designing successful
clinical programs, and experience navigating clinical and regulatory pathways
to bring promising new cancer therapies to the market will be invaluable as we
collaborate with Symphony ViDA to advance our drug candidates through clinical
development. We also look forward to getting the benefit of Dr. Onetto's and
Dr. Rowinsky's input on our ZYBRESTAT oncology program." 

Mark Kessel, Chairman of Symphony ViDA and a member of OXiGENE's Board of
Directors, stated, "We are delighted that individuals of the caliber of Drs.
Onetto and Rowinsky have agreed to work with us in our collaboration with
OXiGENE. By leveraging their experience in both research and commercial
development of biotechnology products, we expect that Symphony and OXiGENE will
be able to maximize the opportunity to bring these promising drugs to
physicians and patients." 

OXi4503 is a dual-mechanism, second-generation vascular disrupting agent (VDA)
that has demonstrated promising anti-tumor activity in preclinical studies, and
is being evaluated in a Phase 1 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors,
and for which an expanded clinical study program in liver cancer and leukemia
is anticipated to begin in the first half of 2009. ZYBRESTAT for ophthalmology
is in preclinical development as a potential topical treatment for eye diseases
characterized by abnormal neovascularization, including age-related macular
degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and other indications. An expanded ZYBRESTAT
ophthalmology Phase II clinical study program with intravenous-route
administration is anticipated to begin in the first half of 2009 and is
designed to provide information that will support development of the topical
formulation. 

About ZYBRESTAT (fosbretabulin)

ZYBRESTAT is currently being evaluated in a pivotal registration study in
anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) under a Special Protocol Assessment agreement
with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). OXiGENE believes that
ZYBRESTAT is poised to be among the first therapeutic products in a novel class
of small-molecule drug candidates called vascular disrupting agents (VDAs).
Through interaction with vascular endothelial cell cytoskeletal proteins,
ZYBRESTAT selectively targets and collapses tumor vasculature, thereby
depriving the tumor of oxygen and causing death of tumor cells. In clinical
studies in solid tumors, ZYBRESTAT has demonstrated potent and selective
activity against tumor vasculature, as well as clinical activity against ATC,
ovarian cancer, and various other solid tumors. 

The Company is working to develop a convenient and patient-friendly topical
formulation of ZYBRESTAT for ophthalmological indications. In a
proof-of-concept clinical study in patients with myopic macular degeneration,
intravenously-administered ZYBRESTAT demonstrated signs of clinical activity,
and preclinical studies in multiple species suggest topically-administered
ZYBRESTAT results in drug concentrations in target eye tissues (retina and
choroid) that the Company believes are sufficient for therapeutic effects. 

About OXi4503

OXi4503 (combretastatin A1 di-phosphate / CA1P) is a dual-mechanism VDA that is
being developed in clinical studies for the treatment of solid and liquid
tumors. Like its structural analog, ZYBRESTAT (fosbretabulin / CA4P), OXi4503
has been observed to block and destroy tumor vasculature, resulting in
extensive tumor cell death and necrosis. In addition, preclinical data
indicates that OXi4503 is metabolized by oxidative enzymes (e.g., tyrosinase
and peroxidases), which are elevated in many solid tumors and tumor white blood
cell infiltrates, to an orthoquinone chemical species that has direct cytotoxic
effects on tumor cells. Preclinical studies have shown that OXi4503 has (i)
single-agent activity against a range of xenograft tumor models; and (ii)
synergistic or additive effects when incorporated in various combination
regimens with chemotherapy, molecularly-targeted therapies (including
tumor-angiogenesis inhibitors) and radiation therapy. OXi4503 is currently
being evaluated as a monotherapy in a Phase 1 dose-escalation clinical trial in
patients with advanced solid tumors. 

About OXiGENE

OXiGENE is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel
therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases. The Company's major focus is
developing VDAs that selectively disrupt abnormal blood vessels associated with
solid tumor progression and visual impairment. OXiGENE is dedicated to
leveraging its intellectual property and therapeutic development expertise to
bring life-extending and -enhancing medicines to patients. 

The OXiGENE, Inc. logo is available at
http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=4969 

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any or all of the
forward-looking statements in this press release may turn out to be wrong.
Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions OXiGENE
might make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, but not
limited to, enrollment rate for patients in the ZYBRESTAT pivotal trial for
anaplastic thyroid cancer, timing for an interim analysis of the same, timing
of the development of a topical formulation of ZYBRESTAT, timing of clinical
development of OXi4503, timing of a Phase 2 clinical trial of ZYBRESTAT and
bevacizumab in non-small cell lung cancer, timing of a Phase 2 clinical trial
of ZYBRESTAT in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, timing or execution of a
strategic collaboration on any product or indication, and cash utilization
rates. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual
results to materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements is
contained in OXiGENE's reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission,
including OXiGENE's reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. However, OXiGENE
undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether
because of new information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to our
Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007. 

CONTACT: OXiGENE, Inc.
         Investor and Media Contact:
         Michelle Edwards, Investor Relations
         415-315-9413
         medwards@oxigene.com