Nile Therapeutics, Inc. Completes $1.34 Million Registered Direct Offering

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nile Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: NLTX), a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapeutics for heart failure patients, today announced that it has completed its previously announced sale of an aggregate of 3.35 million shares of its common stock and warrants to purchase an additional 2,512,500 shares of common stock at an initial exercise price of $0.50 per share.  The total gross proceeds from the registered direct offering were $1.34 million, before deducting selling commissions and expenses of approximately $0.2 million.

The company plans to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, including funding its activities related to planning and designing its next Phase 2 clinical trial of cenderitide. 

Roth Capital Partners, LLC acted as sole placement agent in the offering.

The securities were sold pursuant to a shelf registration statement (File No. 333-165167), which was declared effective by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") on March 12, 2010. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. A prospectus supplement relating to the offering has been filed with the SEC.  Copies of the prospectus supplement and the accompanying base prospectus may be obtained at the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

About Post-Acute Heart Failure

Heart failure is the fastest-growing clinical cardiac disease in the U.S. according to the American Heart Association, affecting over 5 million Americans. Over 1 million patients in the U.S. each year are hospitalized with ADHF, an acute exacerbation of heart failure. ADHF is the is the most frequent cause of hospital admission in the U.S. for patients older than 65 years, generating annual inpatient costs of more than $35 billion. Within 90 days following admission for ADHF, approximately 40% of patients return to the hospital. Nile believes that a decrease in the ADHF re-hospitalization rate, which is the clinical target of the cenderitide development program, could both improve the quality of life for patients and decrease the annual inpatient cost of heart failure.

About Nile Therapeutics

Nile Therapeutics, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company that develops innovative products for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and other areas of unmet medical needs. Nile is focusing its efforts on developing its lead compound, cenderitide, a novel rationally designed chimeric peptide in clinical studies for the treatment of heart failure. The cenderitide program was granted Fast Track status by the United States Food and Drug Administration. More information on Nile can be found at http://www.nilethera.com.

Safe Harbor Paragraph for Forward-Looking Statements: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release regarding the expectation that the proceeds from the offering will be sufficient to complete Nile's ongoing strategic discussion, Nile's strategy, future operations, outlook, milestones, the timing and success of Nile's product development, future financial position, future financial results, plans and objectives of management, are forward-looking statements. Nile may not actually achieve these plans, intentions or expectations and Nile cautions investors not to place undue reliance on Nile's forward-looking statements. Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations disclosed in the forward-looking statements Nile makes. Various important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking statements that Nile makes include Nile's need to raise additional capital to fund its product development programs to completion, Nile's reliance on third-party researchers to develop its product candidates, and its lack of experience in developing and commercializing pharmaceutical products. Additional risks are described in greater detail in the reports Nile files with Securities and Exchange Commission, including those described under the caption "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 2, 2012. Nile is providing this information as of the date of this press release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE Nile Therapeutics, Inc.