ADH Adherex Technologies

Adherex Technologies Inc. (TSX: AHX) (AMEX: ADH), a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to solving problems for patients with cancer, today announced that Dr. William P. Peters, Adherex's Chairman and CEO, will be presenting at Windhover Information's Therapeutic Area Partnerships Meeting on Tuesday, November 4, 2008 at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel. Adherex's sodium thiosulfate (STS), a chemoprotectant being developed to reduce or prevent the hearing loss often associated with platinum-based chemotherapies, was selected by Windhover as one of the Top 10 most interesting oncology projects available for partnering. The independent selection committee was led by Marc Wortman, PhD, contributing writer to Windhover's In Vivo and Start Up magazines, and a team from the pharmaceutical and biotech management consulting firm, Campbell Alliance. This is the second time an Adherex product has been selected, with ADH-1 being honored as a Top 10 project by Windhover last year.

"Selected companies have been screened using a strict set of criteria for the Top 10 award and represent what our committee considered the most attractive oncology opportunities the industry currently has to offer," said Roger Longman, Managing Director of Windhover Information. "Winners have met rigorous criteria including: unmet medical need, market potential, strong science, multi-level partnering opportunities (biotech and pharma), potential for new opportunities beyond initial indications, and corporate stability."

"We are delighted to be recognized once again in the Top 10 by the selection committee assembled by Windhover," said Dr. William P. Peters, Chairman and CEO of Adherex. "STS, currently in Phase 3 clinical trials worldwide, is the first compound in late-stage development attempting to reduce or prevent the significant hearing damage often seen with platinum-based chemotherapies such as cisplatin, a significant unmet need in both children and adults."

Adherex is currently evaluating STS in a multi-centered, randomized Phase 3 trial in collaboration with Children's Oncology Group (COG) in children receiving cisplatin chemotherapy for newly diagnosed germ cell, liver (hepatoblastoma), brain (medulloblastoma), nerve tissue (neuroblastoma) or bone (osteosarcoma) cancers. This trial is expected to enroll up to 120 patients over approximately three years in up to 230 COG centers in the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Adherex is also conducting a multi-centered, randomized Phase 3 trial of STS in children with liver (hepatoblastoma) cancer in collaboration with the International Childhood Liver Tumour Strategy Group (known as SIOPEL), a multi-disciplinary group of specialists under the umbrella of the International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP), which is expected to enroll up to 100 patients in centers in up to 33 participating countries. In May 2008, we completed a license agreement with the Netherlands Cancer Institute - Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NCI-AVL) for the exclusive use of data from a completed Phase 3 trial using STS to prevent platinum-induced hearing loss in adults with head and neck cancer. The NCI-AVL Phase 3 trial demonstrated that, at two years following treatment, STS was able to protect against cisplatin-induced hearing loss without any apparent affect on the anti-cancer efficacy of the cisplatin. The agreement with NCI-AVL also includes an exclusive license to data from a planned follow-up study intended to provide longer-term data on the hearing status, disease-free status and overall survival of patients from the completed Phase 3 trial.

In addition to the TA Partnerships Meeting in Philadelphia, PA, other recent or upcoming presentations by Adherex include:

- BioPharm America 2008, Atlanta, GA, September 9-10, 2008, where Dr. Peters participated on a panel entitled "The New Oncology Partnerships - Paradigms for Novel Therapies or More of the Same?"

- 2008 BioFlorida Annual Conference, Amelia Island, FL, October 19-22, 2008, where Dr. Peters participated on a panel entitled "Partner Now, Later or Never - the Pro's & Con's"

- Licensing Executives Society 2008 Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL, October 19-23, 2008, where Dr. Peters participated on a panel entitled "Licensing Assets to Repurpose in New Indications"

- Chemotherapy Foundation Symposium XXVI, New York, NY, November 4-8, 2008, where Dr. Christi Augustine, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, will present "Systemic ADH-1 and Melphalan ILI in Advanced Extremity Melanoma" and Dr. Howard (Skip) Burris, Director of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Sarah Cannon Cancer Center, will present "Eniluracil: Clinical update on novel schedules with a DPD-Inhibitor" on Friday, November 7, 2008

- Rodman & Renshaw 10th Annual Healthcare Conference, New York, NY, November 10-12, 2008, where Dr. Peters will present a corporate and clinical development program update that will be available for viewing by webcast on November 12, 2008 at 2:00 PM EST

- BIO-Europe 2008, Mannheim, Germany, November 17-19, 2008, where Dr. Peters will be participating on a panel entitled "Transformative Trends in Oncology"

About Windhover

Windhover Information Inc., an Elsevier company, has led the field in providing analysis of the healthcare industry to decision-makers at all levels since the founding of its flagship publication, IN VIVO, The Business & Medicine Report, in 1983. Windhover provides its information and analysis in many formats, including print, electronic databases, international conferences and webinars. For more on the company's products and services, please see www.windhover.com.

About Adherex Technologies

Adherex Technologies Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel cancer therapeutics. We are in the business of solving problems for patients with cancer. We have multiple products in the clinical stage of development, including eniluracil, ADH-1 and sodium thiosulfate (STS). Eniluracil, an oral dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) inhibitor, is being developed to improve the tolerability and effectiveness of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), one of the most widely used oncology drugs in the world. ADH-1 is a biotechnology compound which selectively targets N-cadherin, a protein present on certain tumor cells and the blood vessels of solid tumors. STS is a chemoprotectant being developed to reduce or prevent hearing loss that may result from treatment with platinum-based chemotherapy drugs. With a diversified portfolio of unique preclinical and clinical-stage cancer compounds and a management team with expertise in identifying, developing and commercializing novel cancer therapeutics, Adherex aims to become a leader in developing innovative treatments that address important unmet medical needs in cancer. For more information, please visit our website at www.adherex.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve significant risks and uncertainties. The actual results, performance or achievements of the Company might differ materially from the results, performance or achievements of the Company expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, those regarding our development plans, the expected results of our development, and the potential markets and indications for our drugs. We can provide no assurance that development will proceed as currently anticipated, that previous results will be predictive of future outcomes, or that the expected markets or indications for our drugs will be realized. We are subject to various risks, including the uncertainties of clinical trials, drug development and regulatory review, the early stage of our product candidates, our reliance on collaborative partners, our need for additional capital to fund our operations, our history of losses, and other risks inherent to the biopharmaceutical industry. For a more detailed discussion of related risk factors, please refer to our public filings available at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

Contacts: Adherex Technologies Inc. D. Scott Murray Senior Vice President, Corporate Development 919-484-8484 info@adherex.com