Good day and welcome to the Synta Pharmaceuticals Second Quarter 2008 Financial Results Conference call. Today's conference call is being recorded and webcast. At this time, for opening remarks, I would like to turn the call over to Rob Kloppenburg, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at Synta Pharmaceuticals. Please go ahead, sir.

Hello and thank you all for taking the time to join us today. With me are Dr. Safi Bahcall, President and Chief Executive Officer of Synta Pharmaceuticals; Keith Ehrlich, our Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; Dr. Eric Jacobson, Synta's Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer; and Dr. Jim Barsoum, the Senior Vice President of Research. This morning we issued a press release that reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2008. This release can be found on our Web site at www.syntapharma.com. Before we go any further, I'd like to remind everyone that we will be making forward-looking statements during this teleconference call. Such statements, including statements relating to the timing and progress of clinical trials and financial guidance for 2008, reflect our current views with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Risks and uncertainties include the risk that the results of completed clinical trials may not necessarily be predictive of results in larger, later-stage clinical trials, and the other risks and uncertainties described under Risk Factors in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Synta undertakes no obligation to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. I will now turn the call over to Dr. Bahcall, after which we will open the floor to questions. Safi?

Thanks Rob and thank you all for joining us this morning. We've had a very busy and productive second quarter. I will highlight some of the most significant developments then turn it over to Keith for a financial update and then open up the call for questions. First of all, we have been making good progress with our registration program for Elesclomol, our lead cancer drug. Over the past several months, we've seen a substantial increase in enrollment in our Phase 3 SYMMETRY trial to a monthly rate that is among the highest we are aware of for large melanoma trial. We believe this is due to the growing acceptance of the strength of our Phase 2b data, the growing scientific data package behind the mechanism and its potential in melanoma, as well as a decrease in the number of competing trials. If this trend continues, we would expect to complete enrollment of the SYMMETRY trial by the end of the year or first quarter, which would be an impressive achievement for a trial of this size and a reflection of the hard work and abilities of everyone associated with the trial, particularly our clinical and operational teams and the investigators in sites participating in the study. To date, there have been two independent Data Monitoring Committee safety reviews. On both occasions the recommendation has been to continue the SYMMETRY trial as planned. Coming up in the fourth quarter, we expect the interim, safety, and non-futility analysis of the PFS data to take place by the Data Monitoring Committee. The process for the review will follow the pre-specified charter agreed to with the FDA as part of our SPA. As a reminder, the company is quarantined from this analysis. At no time do we see the results, at no time…

Thank you, Safi, and good morning everyone. Our major focus today as a company is the development of our lead drug candidate, Elesclomol. The Elesclomol development costs form the majority of our total R&D expenses. As you know, this program is partnered with GSK and under our partnership agreement, we share responsibility for total worldwide development costs. Under the terms of our agreement Elesclomol development costs, including the melanoma Phase 3 program, are split according to an agreed targeted percentage. We pay what has been described in our filings as a modest share of total costs. The remainder, which represents the substantial majority, is paid by GSK. The agreement with GSK also specifies an initial period during which we are responsible for all melanoma development costs, up to a pre-specified limit. During this period, GSK is responsible for operational milestone payments to us totaling up to $50 million. These payments essentially cover their share of the melanoma costs. Following the initial period, additional costs incurred for the program will no longer be our sole responsibly. They will be shared with GSK on an ongoing basis according to the agreed targeted percentage. We estimate that this transition will occur in the second quarter of 2009. From an accounting standpoint, payments by GSK to Synta are recorded as cost-sharing revenue and costs incurred by GSK in support of the Elesclomol program are recorded by Synta as a reduction in cost-sharing revenue. In the second quarter of 2008, we recognized $1.3 million of license and milestone revenue in connection with our partnership agreement with GSK that we entered into in 2007. This was offset by $1.9 million of net cost-sharing reimbursements to GSK under the agreement resulting in net collaboration revenue of negative $631,000. Please note that this cost-sharing reimbursement to GSK is…

Thanks, Keith. I will now open the call to questions and discussion. Operator?

(Operator instructions) our first question comes from the line of Mike King with Rodman & Renshaw Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Hey, good morning. Can you hear me okay?

Yes we can hear you, Mike. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Okay, quick question. Safi. Let's assume that the trial runs to a successful conclusion in early 2009 with the PSF endpoints, tell us then what happens, I assume all patients on the (inaudible) will then be offered to be crossed over to Elesclomol and what kind of statistical problems will that create, in terms of ultimately seeing a survival benefit?

Hey, Mike. I'm going to turn this over to Eric in a second. But just to clarify, the decision or recommendation to cross over would be up to Data Monitoring Committee, which would certainly be reviewing the results at that point. Just as a reminder, the analysis that we would do for PFS in the first quarter or an early part of '09 is a final analysis for PFS, but it is not the final analysis for OS. So, in that sense, it is interim for OS and we would be talking to the DMC about -- Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Right, understood.

Got anything to add, Eric?

Well, this is Eric Jacobson. Mike, I think that, number one, this data goes to the DMC and we get an independent recommendation. Number two, we would plan, and this is already in our pre-specified charter, to discuss the results with the FDA before making any change to the conduct of the trial. So we would have not only the recommendation of the DMC, but discussion with the FDA before any change. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Right, but that's going to take time and I would imagine that people would want to, if the trial is successful, they'd want to -- why would you want to remain on placebo?

Well I can understand that point. However, I want to remind you that at the time when the analysis is made the trial will be fully enrolled and there will be some time between the data analysis and discussions. So, at that point, it's unclear whether there would be any need to cross over patients. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Okay and then just a quick question about scanning, can you remind us of the frequency of the scans and how they may be similar or different than the frequency of scanning in Phase 2?

The scanning per the protocol is done every other cycle. The scanning is based on the date of randomization for the patients. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: So every other cycle means every eight weeks?

Every eight weeks. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Would that be the same as Phase 2?

It was the same as Phase 2, yes. Mike King - Rodman & Renshaw: Okay, thanks very much.

Our next question comes from the line of Jason Kantor with RBC Capital Markets

Hi there. You said that your rate of enrollment has accelerated and that you would describe it as about the highest that you are aware of for any large melanoma study, which begs the question why isn't this enrolling ahead of schedule. Presumably you wouldn't have, in your previous guidance, assume that you would achieve such a high level of enrollment and it seems that, in the language here, you're opening the possibility that enrollment actually won't complete by year-end '08. Is that your expectation?

Yes, this is Safi. When we set the target goal before we started the study December, we, I think a few quarters ago, announced that we had a delayed start in initiating the study. So, based on that, we've said consistently that December would be an ambitious goal. Based on what we've seen, we've been very encouraged lately with the enrollment rates, which are among the highest that we're aware of for any large melanoma trial, but we wanted to give ourselves some flexibility, because you just never know what happens over holidays or in a summer slowdown. So we're confident that we'll meet the enrollment goal, if the trend that we're seeing continues, either by the end of the year or slipping into first quarter next year. In either case, that puts us in a position to meet our original objective of conducting the primary endpoint analysis in the early part of '09.

Just to be clear, do you mean Q1 when you say early part of '09?

It's a little hard to get more specific until we have fully understood the enrollment rate and the event rate and understand exactly when we push the button, but it could be Q1. I think that's likely. It might spill over into Q2. It's just hard to get more specific right now.

Okay and the costs, the non-cash costs that you're incurring and you say [ph] you're not going to actually have to pay those to Glaxo until the completion of the study. Do you mean the completion of enrollment, the primary PFS data, or the overall survival data? When does the end of the study define?

(inaudible) means the final end, so it is the final case study report. So that's well after enrollment, well after PFS data and well after OS data, so that's far off.

Okay. And then, finally, the $40 million to $50 million milestones and the $60 million to $75 million in cash, is that dependent at all in the completion of enrollment? Is that a critical milestone for you? So, if the completion of enrollment is in Q1 does that change it or put you at the low end of those numbers?

We're confident about the $40 million to $50 million. I don't think the exact details of enrollment timing are going to impact those milestones in any significant way.

Okay. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Joel Sendek, Lazard Capital Markets

Hi, thanks. I had a question about the DMC review in the fourth quarter. Can you tell us more precisely when that might take place based on what you know now?

It's hard to get much more specific. I'd say more likely it'd be toward the end of the fourth quarter.

Okay and that's similar to the two reviews you had before?

No, the two DMC reviews we've had up to now are entirely safety reviews.

Okay.

The one that's coming up is the only interim PFS analysis.

I see. Okay, great. And then I guess following up on the last question about the $40 million to $50 million from GSK, presumably that's since you're saying it is this year, if that's not associated with enrollment might it be associated with this DMC review?

No, not that DMC meeting.

Okay. Just wondering what else it could be. Any hints?

We're contractually not able to get into the specifics.

Okay. Alright, thanks anyway. And then on the other indications, can you give us some idea what the range of other cancer indications would be for the new formulation?

Yes. We have always been excited about the high oxidative stress cancers based on the science that we've seen in the lab and what we've seen in the clinic, and as we've mentioned in the past, those include prostate, ovarian, breast cancer, as well as pancreatic and hematologic. And so you'll definitely hear more about that very soon.

Okay. Thanks a lot.

Great. Thanks for taking my question, guys. Just quickly following on the enrollment rates, I was just wondering if you've seen any delays enrolling ex-US sites. And actually, could you comment, Safi, on how many sites are currently up and enrolling and are you comfortable with the number of sites?

Eric, you want to --?

We'll, first of all, I think we've mentioned earlier that there were some regulatory delays in Europe at the beginning of the trial, but now all the European countries are up and running. As far as the total number of sites, we now have approximately 150 sites initiated, which was our initial target, so we've achieved our target as far as total number of sites.

But do you see those sites being added to at all?

Well, we do a continuous assessment about performance of sites. We also had tremendous interest from investigators worldwide in participating in the trial. So we are doing further assessments of potential sites and could add additional sites, based on the high degree of interest.

Okay, great. And just looking at the -- thinking about the salt formulation of Elesclomol, have you guys completed the bridging study to compare the PK between the salt and free acid form and if so, what kind of results did you see from that?

We had a previous salt formulation that was tested in the clinic. We did do a formal bridging study between those two formulations and showed bioequivalence. For other reasons that formulation did not go forward and now the new sodium salt formulation will go into the clinic in the fourth quarter of this year.

Okay. And just quickly if I may on 9090, I was wondering if you can update us when we're going to see data from the Phase 1 study, the two Phase 1 studies? And any kind of color on the hematological cancer you're looking to target in Q4? I'm assuming maybe CML, given BCR-ABL as a client protein or AML given FLT3. Any kind of color on that?

We haven't determined when we would be announcing data on our first two studies, but when we decided on what scientific venue we'll make that announcement. As far as the hematological study, the protocol is written for a host of hematological malignancies and certainly we're interested in some of the ones you've mentioned, based on mechanism.

Okay and then quickly, if I may, Safi you said ESMO may be when you're going to report survival data from the Phase 2, any other upcoming data releases and scientific meetings? Thanks.

Well, at ESMO we are presenting two-year survival data. We also have data on safety analysis for the compound across all our studies. And then we have our publication on mechanism of action that will be coming up and beyond that we have some other potential venues, but we haven't formally announced other venues to date.

Okay, great. Thanks for taking the questions.

Hey, thanks for taking my call. I just had a quick query on if we'll get any more information on the apilimod at any point soon.

Well, as you know, we are initiating an additional cohort in our rheumatoid arthritis study. That study is open for enrollment and we won't be making any announcements about that until we are further along with that cohort.

Okay. So, by open for enrollment can I assume then that means that you've not enrolled any patients yet or not dosed any patients yet?

We have patients in screening and we anticipate we'll be dosing shortly.

Okay, great. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Robyn Karnauskas, Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead with your question.

Hi guys, congrats on the progress and thanks for taking my question. So I just wanted to know whether you've announced yet whether the number, the minimum number of events for the progression-free survival endpoint has been reached.

No. We haven't announced that and part of our standard operating plan is that we don't discuss -- we don't have access to the -- we're quarantined from any ongoing operational aspects such as event rates and we certainly wouldn't expect to announce that.

Okay. So, I guess, you may not be able to answer this question either. But if the number of events has already occurred, then going into the futility analysis, how does that impact the potential outcome from that analysis, the minimum number of events for the final analysis has already occurred and we'll have all those at the meeting?

Yes. Since we don't have any access to the data, it's pretty hard for us to speculate what they may or may not do. I mean, they'll have some number of events. They'll take a look at data. In the charter, there's only a specified stopping rule for futility. So, if they feel that, based on what they're seeing, there's an extremely low likelihood that the study will succeed, then they can recommend stopping the study. Otherwise, in the charter, all they can really recommend is to -- the intent is really to just recommend continuing the study unchanged.

Okay.

Beyond that, we don't have access to the data. We couldn't really guess what they might or might not do when they see the actual results.

Okay and then the last question is the futility analysis in that final meeting in the fourth quarter. What triggers that meeting?

It's a combination of making the statistical group that's overseeing the trial, making sure that they have enough events for it to be a worthwhile meeting, as well as this is about the right time in the study that it's sufficiently in for the final data analysis but there are enough events. So it's kind of a combination of factors that this was about the right time.

Okay, great. Thanks.

There are no further questions in the queue. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Dr. Safi Bahcall for closing comments.

Thanks everybody for your time today and we look forward to updating you on our next call.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect your lines at this time.