Poniard Pharmaceuticals Adjourns Reconvened Annual Meeting of Shareholders to Solicit Additional Proxies for Important Reverse Stock Split Proposal

Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc. PARD announced today that it reconvened its annual meeting of shareholders on July 8, 2011 and adjourned the meeting until 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time, on July 22, 2011, to solicit additional proxies to vote in favor of a proposal authorizing the Company's Board of Directors, in its discretion, to effect a reverse stock split in the range of 1-for-15 to 1-for-25. The reconvened meeting will be held at the Company's executive offices, 750 Battery Street, Suite 330, San Francisco, CA 94111. Valid proxies submitted by Company shareholders in connection with the June 9 and July 8 meetings will continue to be valid for the purposes of the reconvened meeting. The Company presented the reverse stock split proposal to regain compliance with the Nasdaq Capital Market $1.00 minimum bid price requirement. If the proposal is not approved, the Company believes that its common stock will be subject to delisting from the Nasdaq Capital Market, which would adversely impact the liquidity and marketability of its common stock and the completion of Poniard's recently announced merger agreement with ALLOZYNE, Inc..