Curis Added to NASDAQ Biotechnology Index

Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS), a drug development company seeking to develop next generation targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer treatment, today announced that it has been selected for addition to the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index (NBI), which will become effective prior to market open on Monday, May 24, 2010.

"We are very pleased to be included in the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index, which we believe underscores Curis' consistent progress and achievements over the past year," said Dan Passeri, Curis’ President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are committed to advancing our pipeline programs and look forward to continued momentum as we expect to report several key milestones over the remainder of 2010, including for GDC-0449, a first-in-class Hedgehog pathway inhibitor in collaboration with Genentech, and CUDC-101, an HDAC/EGFR/Her2 inhibitor and our lead proprietary drug.”

The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index is designed to track the performance of a set of NASDAQ listed securities that are classified as either biotechnology or pharmaceutical according to the Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). The NASDAQ Biotechnology Index is re-ranked semi-annually in May and November and serves as the basis for the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index(SM) Fund (Nasdaq:IBB - News), which seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index. In addition, options based on the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology Index Fund trade on various exchanges.

For more information about the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index, including detailed eligibility criteria, visit https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/.

About Curis, Inc.

Curis is a drug development company that is committed to leveraging its innovative signaling pathway drug technologies to seek to create new targeted small molecule drug candidates for cancer. Curis is building upon its previous experiences in targeting signaling pathways, including in the Hedgehog pathway, in its effort to develop proprietary targeted cancer programs. For more information, visit Curis' website at www.curis.com.

Curis Cautionary Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation that the Company’s expects to report key milestones in 2010 for GDC-0449 and CUDC-101. Forward-looking statements used in this press release may contain the words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "plans", "seeks", "estimates", "will", "may" or similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those indicated by such forward-looking statements including, among other things:

• Curis may experience adverse results, delays and/or failures in its internal drug development programs, including with respect to its Phase I clinical trial of CUDC-101, and with respect to its ongoing preclinical studies of its other targeted cancer programs.
• Genentech and/or Roche and Debiopharm may experience adverse results, delays and/or failures in their respective development programs under collaboration with Curis. For example, Genentech and/or Roche may not be able to replicate in later trials any favorable outcomes from earlier trials of GDC-0449, and Debiopharm may not be able to successfully advance Debio 0932 through its ongoing Phase I clinical trial as planned.
• Curis may experience difficulties or delays in obtaining or maintaining required regulatory approvals for products under development both internally and through its collaborations.
• Curis may not be able to obtain or maintain the intellectual property protection necessary for the development and commercialization of drug candidates based on its technologies.
• Curis may not be able to obtain the substantial additional funding required to conduct research and development of its drug candidates.
• Curis may experience unplanned cash requirements, and may not receive additional anticipated payments under its collaborations, any of which could shorten the estimated period in which Curis will have cash to fund its operations and which could also adversely affect Curis' estimated operating expenses for 2010 and beyond.
• Curis faces risks relating to its ability to enter into and maintain planned collaborations for development candidates under its targeted cancer programs, its ability to maintain its current collaborations with Genentech and Debiopharm, and the risk that any such collaborators will not perform adequately.
• Curis also faces other risk factors identified in its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010 and other filings that it periodically makes with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent the views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing Curis' views as of any subsequent date. Curis disclaims any intention or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this press release whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.