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Stockholders of CombinatoRx and Neuromed Vote for Merger

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^{Published in Health and Fitness on Friday, December 18th 2009 at 10:05 GMT by Market Wire}  

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. & VANCOUVER--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--CombinatoRx, Incorporated (NASDAQ: CRXX) and Neuromed Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that their respective stockholders approved the merger between CombinatoRx and Neuromed and all other related proposals at each of their stockholder meetings on December 18, 2009. CombinatoRx and Neuromed expect the merger will close on Monday, December 21, 2009.

About CombinatoRx

CombinatoRx, Incorporated (CRXX) is pioneering the new field of synergistic combination pharmaceuticals. Going beyond traditional combinations, CombinatoRx creates product candidates with novel mechanisms of action, striking at the biological complexities of human disease. The CombinatoRx proprietary drug discovery technology provides a renewable and previously untapped source of novel drug candidates. CombinatoRx was founded in 2000 and is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. To learn more about CombinatoRx, please visit [ www.combinatorx.com ].

About Neuromed

Neuromed is a privately held biopharmaceutical company in business to develop new and improved pain medicines. Neuromed has multiple programs aimed at addressing this important unmet medical need. The rights to its lead product candidate, Exalgo™, designed to be a once-daily, oral hydromorphone treatment, seeking FDA approval for chronic to severe pain, were recently acquired by Mallinckrodt Inc., a subsidiary of Covidien plc. Neuromed is also developing oral drug candidates to block N-type and T-type calcium channels, important targets directly involved in pain signaling, and includes candidates for potentially treating pain, epilepsy and hypertension. For more information, visit Neuromed's website at [ www.neuromed.com ].

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning CombinatoRx and Neuromed, the closing of the merger of CombinatoRx and Neuromed and the timing thereof, Neuromed's product candidate Exalgo, the CombinatoRx drug discovery technology, and the business plans of both CombinatoRx and the combined company. These forward-looking statements about future expectations, plans and prospects of CombinatoRx, Neuromed and the combined company involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including risks related to the closing of the proposed merger, the ability of Neuromed or Mallinckrodt to obtain regulatory approval for the sale and marketing of its Exalgo product candidate, the unproven nature of the CombinatoRx drug discovery technology, CombinatoRx's ability to obtain additional financing or funding for its research and development and those other risks that can be found in the "Risk Factors" section of the CombinatoRx Annual Report on Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the other reports that CombinatoRx periodically files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and CombinatoRx does not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect a change in its views or events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release except as required by law.

(c) 2009 CombinatoRx, Incorporated. All rights reserved.