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MONTREAL, March 5, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Milestone Pharmaceuticals Inc., a cardiovascular drug development company, today announced the appointment of Paul F. Truex to its Board of Directors. Mr. Truex is Chief Executive Officer, Founder and a Director of Anthera Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:ANTH), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs to treat serious illnesses, including cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases.

"Mr. Truex brings relevant operating, deal-making and financing experience to Milestone's Board," commented Philippe Douville, Chief Executive Officer of Milestone. "He exhibits a high level of passion to the business of drug development, and we look forward to benefiting from his guidance as Milestone pursues its strategy in preparing for its first clinical studies."

Mr. Truex was responsible for the initial acquisition of Anthera's intellectual property from negotiations with pharmaceutical companies. Prior to founding Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Mr. Truex served as a Founder, Director, President and CEO of Peninsula Pharmaceuticals. During that time, Mr. Truex raised over $81 million of institutional investment and strategic partner capital. Peninsula was acquired by Johnson and Johnson in April of 2005 for $245 million in an all cash transaction. Over the span of his career, Mr. Truex has successfully raised over $150 million in venture investments and more than $200 million in various public equity and debt offerings, including Anthera's Initial Public Offering in 2010. Prior to Peninsula, he served as a Senior Executive of Versicor (acquired by Pfizer) and participated in the company's successful $55 million initial public offering in 2000. Before joining Versicor, Mr. Truex worked at Eli Lilly and Company where he served in various marketing and sales roles during the launch of three different products for the primary care physician market (Actos' Evista' and Humalog 75/25).

Mr. Truex obtained his Masters of Business Administration in Marketing and Finance from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Waterloo. Mr. Truex is a member of the Board of Directors of Trius Therapeutics, Eiger Biopharmaceuticals and Waterloo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Mr. Truex will replace Mr. Cedric Bisson who has retired from Milestone's Board of Directors. The members of Milestone's Board are grateful to Mr. Bisson for his unique and outstanding contribution to the development of the company over the past six years and wish him much success in his future endeavors.

About Milestone Pharmaceuticals

Milestone is a drug development company developing novel small molecule therapeutics based on clinically validated mechanisms for cardiovascular diseases. Milestone's lead product is a novel and potent short-acting calcium channel antagonist for the systemic treatment of transient cardiovascular conditions such as atrial arrhythmias and angina. The Company has assembled a world-class scientific advisory board of key opinion leaders with significant cardiovascular expertise in cardiology, regulatory affairs, and drug development. Milestone was founded in 2005 and initially financed by iNovia Capital, Fonds BioInnovation and an angel investor. For more information, please visit www.milestonepharma.com