BUFFALO, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 07/01/09 -- Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. (NASDAQ: CBLI) today announced that the Chemical Biological Medical Systems Medical Identification and Treatment Systems Joint Product Management Office (CBMS-MITS JPMO) of The Department of Defense (DoD) has exercised the contract option and released a second phase of funding under a contract calling for developmental studies valued at up to $8.8 million, awarded in April 2008.

Michael Fonstein, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and President of Cleveland BioLabs, stated, "The release of this phase of funding under our contract with the DoD is a significant milestone, indicating clear recognition of our progress. Timing of this release was based upon the CBMS-MITS JPMO's conclusion that we have successfully achieved the stated goals of our initial Phase I human safety study for Protectan CBLB502 and are entering further steps of development under the contract."

Cleveland BioLabs recently announced that data from more than 50 subjects in an initial Phase I safety and tolerability study indicated that CBLB502 was well tolerated and that normalized biomarker results corresponded to previously demonstrated activity in animal models of Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS). A pattern of biomarker production was observed in humans consistent with those patterns seen in animals during mitigation of radiation-induced injury by dosing with CBLB502. This study will be followed by a second, larger safety study in healthy human volunteers, building on the results of the initial study.

These studies are being conducted under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Animal Efficacy Rule to treat ARS from any exposure to radiation such as a nuclear or radiological weapon/dirty bomb, or from a nuclear accident. This approval pathway requires demonstration of efficacy in representative animal models and safety and drug metabolism testing in healthy human volunteers. Demonstration of specific activity in humans is based on biomarkers that directly reflect the mechanism of the drug's action. Evidence of CBLB502's mechanism of activity and efficacy in animal models was published in Science Magazine in April 2008 (Science, 2008, vol. 320, pp. 226-230). There is currently no FDA approved medical countermeasure to treat ARS.

About Cleveland BioLabs, Inc.

Cleveland BioLabs, Inc. is a drug discovery and development company leveraging its proprietary discoveries around programmed cell death to develop treatments for cancer and protection of normal tissues from exposure to radiation and other stresses. The Company has strategic partnerships with the Cleveland Clinic, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, ChemBridge Corporation and the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute. To learn more about Cleveland BioLabs, Inc., please visit the company's website at http://www.cbiolabs.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements reflect management's current expectations, as of the date of this press release, and involve certain risks and uncertainties. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Some of the factors that could cause future results to materially differ from the recent results or those projected in forward-looking statements include the "Risk Factors" described in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2009.