Ardea Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:RDEA), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of gout, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer and inflammatory diseases, today announced event participants and webcast information for its Investor and Analyst Event on Monday, April 20, 2009 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time in New York City.

Ardea will present results from its recently completed Phase 1 studies of RDEA594, its lead product candidate for the treatment of hyperuricemia and gout, and Phase 2a study of RDEA806, RDEA594’s prodrug, in patients with gout. Plans for the Phase 2 development program with RDEA594, scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2009, will also be presented. Panel discussion participants are expected to include Ardea management and key opinion leaders in the field of gout and hyperuricemia, including:

Mark C. Genovese, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine and Co-Chief of the Division of Immunology
and Rheumatology
Stanford University Medical Center
Palo Alto, CA
(via video conference)

and

Fernando Perez-Ruiz, MD, PhD
Assistant Head of the Rheumatology Division
Hospital de Cruces
Vizcaya, Spain

To access the webcast, please log onto Ardea’s website at www.ardeabio.com and click on the Investors Center section approximately 10 minutes prior to the start of the webcast to allow for any software downloads that may be necessary. An archived recording of the event will be available on Ardea’s website for one month.

About Ardea Biosciences, Inc.

Ardea Biosciences, Inc., of San Diego, California, is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics for the treatment of gout, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), cancer and inflammatory diseases. We have five product candidates in clinical trials and others in preclinical development and discovery. Our most advanced product candidate is RDEA806, a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI), which has successfully completed a Phase 2a study for the treatment of patients with HIV. We have evaluated our second-generation NNRTI for the treatment of HIV, RDEA427, in a human micro-dose pharmacokinetic study and have selected it for clinical development based on a plasma half-life of greater than 40 hours. RDEA594, our lead product candidate for the treatment of hyperuricemia and gout, is being evaluated in Phase 1 clinical trials.