Ambit Biosciences Inc. today announced that the company has closed the first $25 million tranche of a new $50 million preferred stock financing to support continued advancement of its lead drug candidate, quizartinib. Existing investor OrbiMed Advisors led the financing with participation from other existing Ambit investors including Aisling Capital, Apposite Healthcare, Roche Ventures, GrowthWorks, MedImmune Ventures, Forward Ventures, GIMV, and Radius Ventures.

"2012 has been a pivotal year of progress for Ambit, and this financing is a reflection of that progress and the momentum we have built as a team," said Michael Martino, President and CEO of Ambit. "We've received the data from our large, 333 patient Phase 2 trial of quizartinib in patients with relapsed/refractory AML, and we are excited to present that data at ASH in Atlanta in December. We've refocused and prioritized our work on earlier stage pipeline assets, including our oral JAK2 and CSF1R inhibitor programs, and re-energized the team. This financing, with OrbiMed Advisors leading a round in which all existing investors participated, is a strong vote of confidence in our direction and provides the resources to accelerate our progress in 2013.""

In conjunction with the financing, David Bonita, M.D, of OrbiMed Advisors will join Ambit's board of directors.

"Ambit's new management team has impressed us with its focus on moving the company's core clinical programs forward in clinical development," said Dr. Bonita. "We believe that the recent data from its 333 patient Phase 2 trial in relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia are very promising and look forward to working with the management team and their clinical collaborators in moving quizartinib through clinical development and into clinical use by physicians."

About Ambit Biosciences
Ambit Biosciences is a privately held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development of a robust pipeline of small molecule kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer, inflammatory disease and other indications. Ambit's lead compound, quizartinib (AC220), is a novel, potent, highly selective, orally bioavailable FMS-like tyrosine kinase-3 (FLT3) inhibitor, and is currently under clinical investigation in patients with relapsed or refractory AML and treatment-naive AML. Ambit is developing quizartinib in collaboration with Astellas Pharma Inc. as part of a worldwide agreement to jointly develop and commercialize FLT3 kinase inhibitors in oncology and non-oncology indications. In addition to quizartinib, Ambit's clinical pipeline includes AC430, an oral JAK2 inhibitor, and CEP-32496, a BRAF inhibitor licensed to Teva. Ambit's preclinical portfolio includes a proprietary CSF1R inhibitor program. For more information, visit www.ambitbio.com.