--Company Initiates Search for New CEO -- EDMONTON, April 3 /CNW/ - Biomira Inc. (Nasdaq: BIOM) (TSX: BRA) today announced that Alex McPherson, M.D., Ph.D. will step down as the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer following the Annual General Meeting scheduled for May 17, 2006. The Board has initiated a search process for Dr. McPherson's successor. Edward Taylor, the Company's Chief Financial Officer and Vice President Finance and Administration, has agreed to assume the role of President and Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis, if a successor has not been identified by the date of Dr. McPherson's departure. The Board expressed its appreciation to Dr. McPherson for the key leadership role he has played in the Company's development since he joined the Company in 1991 as the President and CEO and his prior involvement with the Board. Eric Baker, the Company's Chairman, commented, "We would like to thank Alex for his tireless work and dedication to Biomira. He leaves the Company as Biomira enters an exciting stage in its lifecycle. As a result of the recent Merck KGaA transaction, Biomira can now embark on a new path and we believe we have the resources to focus on growing our pipeline and leveraging our scientific expertise in the development of peptide-based synthetic-defined antigen vaccines." Dr. McPherson commented, "Biomira has been an important part of my life for the past 20 years. The Company has always been committed to the development of products for the treatment of cancer and I am glad to depart with our lead product for non-small cell lung cancer, L-BLP25, poised to commence a phase 3 trial this summer and in the hands of Merck KGaA." About Biomira Biomira is a biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapeutic approaches to cancer management. Biomira's commitment to the treatment of cancer currently focuses on the development of synthetic vaccines and novel strategies for cancer immunotherapy. This release may contain forward-looking statements. Various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements, including those predicting the timing of clinical trials, particularly the phase 3 clinical trial of L-BLP25 and the ability of Biomira to acquire new pipeline product candidates. Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements contained herein are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the Company's expectations are correct or that the Company will have sufficient resources to fund clinical trials and in-license new product candidates. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.