LEXINGTON, Mass., - September 24, 2004 - Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp., an emerging pharmaceutical company, today announced the appointment of William S. Reardon to its Board of Directors.

Until his retirement in 2002, Mr. Reardon served as a business assurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Boston and was the leader of the Life Sciences Industry Practice for New England and the Eastern U.S. As the firm's most experienced biotechnology partner, he guided services for life science clients, including Genzyme, Vertex, Cubist, and Sepracor. Mr. Reardon also served on Boards for the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. He is currently a Board member and the Audit Committee chair of Hybridon, Inc. and Oscient Pharmaceuticals; advisor to the Audit Committee at Momenta Pharmaceuticals; and a member of the Board of Advisors for Feinstein Kean Healthcare.

"We are honored that Bill has agreed to join our Board of Directors," said Safi Bahcall, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Synta, and member of the Board of Directors. "Bill's expertise and many years of experience as a leader in the industry will be enormously valuable as we continue to grow Synta and execute on our clinical, commercial and operational strategies."

About Synta
Synta Pharmaceuticals is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing products for extending and enhancing the lives of patients with severe medical conditions. Synta has a diverse pipeline of first-in-class, small-molecule drug candidates for the treatment of major immune disorders and cancers, with two lead products in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials. All clinical candidates were developed internally, and Synta fully owns all rights in all indications and markets. Synta developed as a buyout of the U.S. subsidiary of a large Japanese pharmaceutical company in 2002 and, as a result, has an experienced and fully-integrated drug discovery and development operation. Synta has raised over $128 million in private financing in the last three years to support its plans. For more information, please see www.syntapharma.com.