"Obtaining composition of matter claims to the structure of our lead compound is the most solid protection that can be obtained on a potential drug because such claims cover any medical use of the compound," commented Dr. Pierre Falardeau, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. "Composition of matter claims are available where novelty resides in the structure of the compound as opposed to only in its utility. One of the strengths of our Decipher(R) technology is its ability to discover new chemical classes such as ECO-4601," he added.

He concluded by saying, "This patent protection comes at a timely moment as we are in the finishing rounds for the filing of our Clinical Trial Application allowing us to initiate our first clinical trials in the early months of 2006. Our confidence level towards Phase I clinical trials is very robust, given the safety data we obtained so far from our preclinical program. If this trend continues, we expect encouraging news flow from our clinical program in 2006."

The Notice of Allowance was issued by the USPTO for USSN 10/762,107 directed to Farnesyl dibenzodiazepinone and processes for its production. Other applications relating to several aspects of the ECO-4601 program, including foreign and US applications, are pending.

About Ecopia

Ecopia is finding novel anticancer therapies from soil-dwelling microorganisms that are one of the most prolific sources of drugs. Our current focus is to move our flagship compound ECO-4601 into Phase I clinical trials. ECO-4601 is a novel small molecule that crosses the blood brain barrier and is effective in significantly inhibiting primary tumor growth in the brain and other types of cancers. Just like well-known chemotherapies such as doxorubicin and mitomycin C, ECO-4601 comes from microorganisms that live in common soil. However, unlike these drugs that were discovered many decades ago, ECO-4601 represents a new chemical class that is the fruit of a very unique drug discovery platform called the Decipher(R) technology. The common shares of Ecopia are listed on the TSX (symbol: EIA).

Additional information about the Company can be obtained from Ecopia's website at www.ecopiabio.com.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The forward-looking statements, including grant of the allowed USSN 10/726,107, the ability to obtain patent protection for ECO-4601 in jurisdictions other than the US, the availability to obtain patent protection over related aspects ECO-4601 such as the medical use of ECO-4601 to treat cancer and expectations as to the pharmaceutical potential of ECO-4601 in humans involve risk and uncertainties. Actual events could differ materially from those projected here and depend on a number of factors, including the possibility of withdrawal of a notice of allowance by the USPTO, the availability of post-grant patent proceedings, differences in patent law and procedure in each country in which the Company is seeking protection, scientific uncertainties relating to the correlation between preclinical animal data and human clinical data, uncertainties related to the regulatory process for drug development, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, and the impact of general economic conditions. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company appears in Ecopia's 2004 Annual Report.

Ecopia BioSciences Inc. (TSX:EIA)