SAN DIEGO, CA, July 29, 2008, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Senomyx, Inc. (SNMX) , a leading company focused on using proprietary technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients for the food, beverage, and ingredient supply industries, announced today that it has initiated development activities for a new sucrose enhancer, S6973. Sucrose (otherwise known as common table sugar) is widely used in many food and beverage products. Taste tests have demonstrated that S6973 enables the reduction of up to 50% of the sucrose present in product prototypes while maintaining the sweet taste of natural sugar.

"Senomyx believes that S6973 has the potential to be used to enhance the sweet taste of sucrose in numerous food and beverage products," said Kent Snyder, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman of the Board of Senomyx. "The discovery of S6973 is a major scientific accomplishment and represents a significant commercial opportunity for Senomyx. Flavor ingredients that enable a meaningful reduction in sucrose without compromising taste would provide consumers with new choices for products with lower calories and therefore improved nutritional profiles."

Unlike typical sugar alternatives, S6973 does not have a sweet taste of its own in taste tests with product prototypes. Instead, it is a unique flavor ingredient intended to amplify the sweet taste of the sugar present in a food or beverage. "Taste tests conducted by Senomyx have shown that S6973 enhanced the sweet taste of yogurt, cereal, and cookie prototypes, as well as powdered and other beverages," noted John Poyhonen, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial and Business Officer at the Company. "Senomyx is also planning to incorporate S6973 in additional product prototypes for evaluation by potential future collaborators. These prototypes are representative of product categories that utilize sucrose such as ice cream and other dairy products, sauces and toppings, and baked goods."

The development phase includes scale-up activities and safety studies to support regulatory filings for S6973 in the U.S. and elsewhere. Concurrent with its work with S6973, Senomyx is completing development activities with S2383, an enhancer of the high-intensity sweetener sucralose. S2383 enabled up to a 75% reduction of sucralose in simple product prototypes, yet maintained the same sweet intensity without any off-tastes. The Company anticipates that S2383 will receive GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) regulatory status in the U.S. by the end of 2008.

"We are excited to have achieved such important breakthroughs in our Sweet Enhancer Program," added Mark Zoller, Ph.D., Senomyx's Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Discovery and Development. "Reducing sugar consumption is a priority for consumers who have dietary concerns, particularly those related to obesity and diabetes. The new sucrose and sucralose enhancers were discovered utilizing Senomyx's patented taste receptor technology, which we are now using to focus on the discovery of enhancers of fructose, another carbohydrate sweetener used in a wide range of consumer products."

About Senomyx, Inc. ( http://www.senomyx.com)
Senomyx is a leading company using proprietary taste receptor technologies to discover and develop novel flavor ingredients in the savory, sweet, salt, bitter, and cooling areas. Senomyx has entered into product discovery and development collaborations with seven of the world's foremost food, beverage, and ingredient supply companies: Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Cadbury plc, Campbell Soup Company, The Coca-Cola Company, Firmenich SA, Nestle SA, and Solae. NestlA(C) is currently marketing products that contain one of Senomyx's flavor ingredients. For more information, please visit http://www.senomyx.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
Statements included in this press release that are not a description of fact are forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the potential for using S6973 and S2383 as a sucrose enhancer in food and beverage products, whether Senomyx's current and potential future collaborators will use S6973 or S2383 in food products, our anticipation that S2383 will receive GRAS regulatory status by the end of 2008, the commercial potential of products containing our flavor ingredients, and whether we will enter into any new collaborations for S2383 or S6973 in the future. The inclusion of forward-looking statements should not be regarded as a representation by us that any of our plans, projections or future financial, scientific or business objectives will be achieved. Our actual results may differ materially from any projected future results set forth in this release as a result of the risks and uncertainties inherent in our business including, without limitation: difficulties or delays in developing, testing, obtaining regulatory approval, producing, and marketing our flavor ingredients and related technologies; whether we are able to complete the satisfactory development of our novel flavor ingredients, including S2383 or S6973, when expected or at all; whether our development activities for novel flavor ingredients will demonstrate commercially acceptable safety profiles for our compounds; the ability of our licensees to manufacture S6973 and S2383 in commercial quantities at acceptable cost; whether we will be able to further extend or expand our existing collaborations or enter into additional collaborations in the future; our ability to collect royalties under our collaborations; the progress and timing of our scientific programs; changes in the laws or regulations of the United States and other countries that could adversely affect our and our collaborators' ability to develop and commercialize our products; whether any of our collaborations will result in the discovery and development of novel flavor ingredients, improve the nutritional profile of products incorporating them, or otherwise enhance our market position; our ability to protect our intellectual property and proprietary technology and to maintain and enforce our licensing arrangements with various third party licensors; our ability to define the scope and validity of patent protection for our products and technologies; competition from other companies and flavor manufacturers; and other risks detailed in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement and we undertake no obligation to revise or update this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof.