First Patients Recruited and Enrolled in Cellceutix Clinical Trial of Novel Anti-Cancer Drug Kevetrin

BEVERLY, MA--(Marketwire - Oct 29, 2012) - Cellceutix Corporation (OTCBB: CTIX) (the "Company"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering small molecule drugs to treat unmet medical conditions, including drug-resistant cancers and autoimmune diseases, is pleased to report that the first patients have been recruited and enrolled for the clinical trials of Kevetrin™, the Company's novel cancer drug in development. The clinical trials are being conducted on patients with advanced solid tumors at Harvard University's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and partner Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Based on dialogue with the clinical sites, the Company anticipates updating shareholders next week that dosing of the first patient has been administered.

"We are extremely pleased to hear that the first patients will begin therapy with Kevetrin™ in a matter of days," said Dr. Krishna Menon, Chief Scientific Officer at Cellceutix. "Not only is this is a substantial milestone for Cellceutix and its shareholders, but we feel it is important to the field of oncology. As a novel compound that directly impacts p53, the "Guardian Angel of the Human Genome," we look forward to a steady patient enrollment and future outcomes that potentially could change the landscape of cancer therapeutics.

Elsevier Business Intelligence

Cellceutix announced that Elsevier Business Intelligence has released a profile article on the Company for its latest edition of its publication "Start Up: Emerging Medical Ventures."

Elsevier, a division of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, is the world's leading provider of science and health information, serving more than 30 million scientists, students and health and information professionals worldwide.

In the article, Elsevier's Deborah Erickson discusses the uniqueness of the Company's Prurisol™ as a new therapeutic candidate for psoriasis, and the clinical trials at Dana-Farber Cancer Center and Beth Israel Deaconess on Kevetrin™ as a novel, p53-activating anti-cancer drug. Regularly referencing Cellceutix as "anything but a normal start-up," the write-up provides a succinct overview of the Company, its "all-star" advisory staff and offers insight into Kevetrin and Prurisol.

Shareholders and interested parties are encouraged to view the article at: http://cellceutix.com/category/in-the-news/

"We are very pleased to have been approached by Elsevier. They have a tremendous global outreach and the additional exposure is positive for our company," commented Leo Ehrlich, Chief Executive Officer at Cellceutix. "I found it particularly interesting how attracted they were to Prurisol and the incredible potential that they see for the drug. Because of the p53 connection and strong possibilities for Kevetrin™, many people overlook how impactful and valuable Prurisol can be as well."

About Kevetrin™

As a completely new class of chemistry in medicine, Kevetrin™ has significant potential to be a major breakthrough in the treatment of solid tumors. Mechanism of action studies showed Kevetrin's unique ability to affect both wild and mutant types of p53 (often referred to as the "Guardian Angel Gene" or the "Guardian Angel of the Human Genome") and that Kevetrin strongly induced apoptosis (cell death), characterized by activation of Caspase 3 and cleavage of PARP. Activation of p53 also induced apoptosis by inducing the expression of p53 target gene PUMA. p53 is an important tumor suppressor that acts to restrict proliferation by inducing cell cycle checkpoints, apoptosis, or cellular senescence.

In more than 50 percent of all human carcinomas, p53 is limited in its anti-tumor activities by mutations in the protein itself. Currently, there are greater than 10 million people with tumors that contain inactivated p53, while a similar number have tumors in which the p53 pathway is partially abrogated by inactivation of other signaling components. This has left cancer researchers with the grand challenge of searching for therapies that could restore the protein's protective function, which Kevetrin appears to be doing the majority of the time.

The clinical trial titled, "A Phase 1, Open-Label, Dose-Escalation, Safety, Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Study of Kevetrin (Thioureidobutyronitrile) Administered Intravenously, in Patients With Advanced Solid Tumors," is available at: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01664000?term=cellceutix&rank=1

About Prurisol

Prurisol is a small molecule, acting on the principles of immune modulation and PRINS reduction that has been found to be effective against psoriasis in animal models, both in induced psoriasis as well as a xenograft model with human psoriatic tissue. It is 25% orally bioavailable allowing the potential for oral administration. Prurisol was studied in SCID mice that were irradiated then engrafted with human psoriatic tissue by inserting human psoriatic tissue under the skin using a trocar. The results of the research showed that Prurisol significantly reduced all psoriatic endpoints measured relative to controls. More detailed information and images of the animal models can be found at: http://cellceutix.com/prurisol/

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

About Cellceutix

Headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, Cellceutix is a publicly traded company under the symbol "CTIX". It is an emerging bio-pharmaceutical company focused on the development of its pipeline of compounds targeting areas of unmet medical need. Our flagship compound, Kevetrin™, is an anti-cancer drug which has demonstrated the ability in pre-clinical studies to regulate the p53 pathway and attack cancers which have proven resistant to today's cancer therapies (drug-resistant cancers). Cellceutix also owns the rights to seven other drug compounds, including KM-133, which is in development for psoriasis, and KM-391 for the treatment of the core symptoms of autism. More information is available on the Cellceutix web site at www.cellceutix.com.

Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements
To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, including statements as to revenue projections, business strategy, outlook, objectives, future milestones, plans, intentions, goals, future financial conditions, future collaboration agreements, the success of the Company's development, events conditioned on stockholder or other approval, or otherwise as to future events, such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. Factors that may impact Cellceutix's success are more fully disclosed in Cellceutix's most recent public filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.