VASTox plc
01 August 2006

                                   VASTox plc

                          ("VASTox" or "the Company")



                        VASTox PROVIDES GRANT TO SUPPORT

                  DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY PATIENT REGISTRY





Oxford, UK, 1 August 2006 - VASTox plc (AIM: VOX), a leading UK biotechnology
company, announces today it has provided a grant to the UK muscular dystrophy
charity, Parent Project UK (PPUK), to support the development and management of
its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) patient registry (www.dmdregistry.org).



The DMD Registry aims to register every person in the UK with DMD and Becker
muscular dystrophy, including detailed clinical and genetic data, in a secure,
legally protected database that has been endorsed by senior clinicians, health
professionals and researchers. It will be used by these groups to help
accelerate the development and delivery of new treatments for Duchenne and
Becker muscular dystrophies by providing an easier route to clinical trials in
the UK.



Ultimately, this registry will be used by VASTox, and other organisations
engaged in the development of therapies for muscular dystrophies, to support
Phase II and Phase III clinical trials in the UK. The grant will be used by PPUK
to recruit a full-time project manager and to help raise awareness of the
registry among clinicians, patients and their families.



The resource will also provide information for families of DMD patients,
including the latest developments in research for treatments for DMD, which will
enable them to make better decisions about their future medical care needs.


Steven Lee, CEO of VASTox said: "We are very pleased to provide a grant to the
PPUK for this worthy project. For VASTox, the DMD Registry will be crucial in
preparing and recruiting for the clinical trials of our lead DMD drug
development programme. But more widely, this resource will be extremely valuable
for everyone involved in the search for an effective therapy for DMD. We are
looking forward to working more closely with PPUK in the coming months."



Nick Catlin, CEO of the PPUK, said "DMD is a devastating muscle-wasting disease.
Most families are told that there is no hope for a cure or treatments for DMD;
this results in the terrible prospect of waiting for your son to die. VASTox is
leading the way in the UK by developing new drugs in the future that might give
our sons a longer and better quality of life. Parents of boys with DMD must
understand that we all have a very important part to play in helping to
accelerate this research. By registering with the DMD Registry we will give
companies like VASTox access to a world-class, streamlined clinical trials
system. This grant from VASTox is wonderful and will help us to be able reach
more families so that we can provide the essential clinical and gene variation
information on patients for clinical trials that will help us in our race
against time."



                                    - ends -



For more information please contact:


VASTox

Steven Lee, PhD, Chief Executive Officer                 Tel: +44 (0)1235 443910
Darren Millington, Chief Financial Officer


Parent Project UK (PPUK)
Nick Catlin, Chief Executive Officer                     Tel: +44 (0)208 556 9955


Citigate Dewe Rogerson                                   Tel: +44 (0)207 638 9571
David Dible / Mark Swallow / Valerie Auffray



About VASTox plc



VASTox is a chemical genomics technology company that discovers and develops
proprietary novel drugs and provides services to the pharmaceutical industry.
The company's most advanced drug development programme is focused on developing
a new treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy based on the up-regulation of
utrophin. A second drug development programme for spinal muscular atrophy is
also progressing rapidly. VASTox has three additional programmes focused on
osteoarthritis, cancer and tuberculosis that are expected to be out-licensed
prior to entering the clinic.



The company's technology platform, which uses zebrafish and fruitflies, has the
potential to dramatically decrease the time and cost of drug discovery and
development. This is because using whole organisms allows it to carry out high
volume, high content screening that delivers data which is highly predictive of
the efficacy and toxicity of potential drug compounds in humans. VASTox is
growing revenues based on marketing its unique technology platform and its
chemistry expertise. The company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange in October 2004.



Further information about the company is available at vastox.com.



About Parent Project UK



Parent Project UK Muscular Dystrophy (PPUK) is the only national charity that
exclusively funds research and campaigns for better medical care for Duchenne
and Becker muscular dystrophy. PPUK was set up by parents of boys with Duchenne
muscular dystrophy in 2001 and has since been instrumental in setting up a
consortium of researchers to develop the first clinical trial for a Gene Therapy
in the UK. The MDEX consortium has already won #1.6m of funding from the
Department of Health following the lobbying of parents and supporters from PPUK.
PPUK has networks of Parent Action Groups across the UK and has recently set up
a DMD Registry, www.dmdregistry.org, that will be the first national database of
all those living with DMD in the UK. PPUK will make this data available to help
to accelerate future research and clinical trials.



Further information is available at ppuk.org and dmdregistry.org.




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