Threshold Pharmaceuticals Reports Fourth Quarter And Year End 2010 Financial Results

For the year ended December 31, 2010, the Company's cash requirements were $22.6 million. As of December 31, 2010, Threshold had $14.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. On March 16, 2011, the Company announced that it had completed a registered direct offering of Threshold common stock and warrants. Aggregate proceeds from the offering were $30.1 million and net proceeds are expected to be approximately $27.8 million. The Company now expects existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities, including net proceeds from the offering, to last approximately into the third quarter of 2012. Threshold currently expects that total operating expenses for 2011 will be between $27 and $29 million.

Clinical Development Summary

The Company is evaluating TH-302, the Company's hypoxia-activated prodrug, in various solid tumors and in hematologic malignancies as well. The Company has three clinical trials of TH-302 that are currently open to enrollment. The most advanced is the "404 trial", a Phase 2, controlled trial in combination with gemcitabine in patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. The "403 trial" is a Phase 1/2 trial of TH-302 in combination with doxorubicin in patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma. The "407 trial" is a Phase 1, open label trial of TH-302 as monotherapy in patients with advanced leukemias. To date, across all clinical trials, TH-302 has been administered to more than 400 cancer patients.

Key accomplishments during the past twelve months were as follows:

• Commenced two new clinical trials, the "407 trial" and the "404 trial"
• Reached agreement with the FDA on a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for a Phase 3 randomized trial of TH-302 in patients with soft tissue sarcoma
• Presented TH-302 clinical data at select medical conferences including, for example, ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology), CTOS (Annual Connective Tissue Oncology Society) and ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology)
• Collected approximately half a million dollars in grants under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project ("QTDP") program to advance the development of clinical programs for TH-302, and
• Completed a registered direct offering for the sale of its common stock and warrants with gross proceeds of approximately $30.1 million.

The Company anticipates the following clinical milestones:

• Report top line results from the Phase 1 clinical trial in advanced leukemias in the second half of 2011
• Report top line efficacy analysis results from the randomized Phase 2 trial in pancreatic cancer at the end of 2011, and
• Initiate a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial of TH-302 plus doxorubicin compared to doxorubicin alone in patients with metastatic or locally advanced unresectable soft tissue sarcoma in the middle of 2011

About Threshold Pharmaceuticals

Threshold is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs targeting Tumor Hypoxia, the low oxygen condition found in microenvironments of most solid tumors. This approach offers broad potential to treat most solid tumors. By selectively targeting tumor cells, Threshold is building a pipeline of drugs that hold promise to be more effective and less toxic to healthy tissues than conventional anticancer drugs. For additional information, please visit the website ( www.thresholdpharm.com ).

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the statements in this press release are forward-looking statements, including statements regarding Threshold's product candidates and approach to developing new product candidates, pre-clinical testing of TH-302, clinical trials and anticipated results and announcements, potential therapeutic uses and benefits of TH-302 and financial results, estimates, projections and requirements, including the need for additional cash. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that can cause actual results to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, Threshold's ability to attract and retain employees, commence, enroll or complete its anticipated clinical trials, the time and expense required to conduct such clinical trials and analyze data, issues arising in the regulatory or manufacturing process and the results of such clinical trials (including product safety issues and efficacy results) as well as the Company's ability to close its recently announced securities purchase agreement. Further information regarding these and other risks is included under the heading "Risk Factors" in Threshold's Annual Report on Form 10-K, which has been filed with the Securities Exchange Commission on March 24, 2011 and is available from the SEC's website ( www.sec.gov ) and on our website ( www.thresholdpharm.com ) under the heading "Investors." We undertake no duty to update any forward-looking statement made in this news release.

THRESHOLD PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
(A Development Stage Enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS
(in thousands, except per share amounts)
(Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended		Year Ended
	December 31,		December 31,
	2010	2009	2010	2009
Revenue	$ --	$ --	$ --	$ --
Operating expenses
Research and development	4,743	4,125	18,937	15,844
General and administrative	1,380	1,365	4,971	5,480
Total Operating Expenses	6,123	5,490	23,908	21,324
Loss from operations	(6,123)	(5,490)	(23,908)	(21,324)
Interest income (expense), net	7	24	60	(13)
Other income (expense), net	(438)	733	5,166	(2,311)
Net Loss	$ (6,554)	$ (4,733)	$ (18,682)	$ (23,648)
Net loss per common share, basic & diluted	$ (0.19)	$ (0.15)	$ (0.56)	$ (1.21)
Weighted average number of shares used in per common share calculations: basic and diluted	33,702	32,566	33,654	19,594

THRESHOLD PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.
(A Development Stage Enterprise)
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(in thousands)
	December 31,	December 31,
	2010	2009 (1)
	(unaudited)
Assets
Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities	$ 14,699	$ 37,315
Prepaid expenses and other current assets (2)	944	10,342
Property and equipment, net	271	505
Other assets	290	523
Total assets	$ 16,204	$ 48,685
Liabilities and stockholders' equity
Total current liabilities (2)	$ 3,514	$ 12,874
Long-term liabilities (3)	7,747	13,154
Stockholders' equity	4,943	22,657
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity	$ 16,204	$ 48,685
(1) Derived from audited financial statements
(2) Includes as of December 31, 2009, $10 million of settlement costs to be paid to the plaintiffs of an outstanding class action lawsuit by the Company's insurers. During the second quarter of 2010 the settlement was approved by the Court and the $10.0 million was paid by the Company's insurers.
(3) Includes as of December 31, 2010 and December 31, 2009, $7.5 million and $12.7 million of warrant liability, respectively, as a result of the Company's adoption on January 1, 2009 of guidance now codified under ASC Topic 815, "Derivatives and Hedging."

CONTACT: Denise Powell
         Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
         Threshold Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
         650-474-8206
         [e-mail]

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