MISSISSAUGA, ON, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Vasogen Inc. (NASDAQ:VSGN; TSX:VAS) today announced that it received a Nasdaq Staff Deficiency Letter on January 13, 2009, indicating that it no longer complies with Nasdaq's independent director requirement as set forth in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 4350(c)(1) (the "Rule"). The letter was a result of the resignation of a Director, which was announced publicly in a January 6, 2009 press release. Following the receipt of the letter, the Company informed the Nasdaq that it was availing itself of the Foreign Private Issuer Exemption afforded in Marketplace Rule 4350(a)(1) with respect to the Rule, and as a result, on January 15, 2009, the Company received correspondence from the Nasdaq indicating that it complies with the Rule and that the matter is now closed. Nasdaq regulations require the Company to issue a press release to disclose such matters. Certain statements in this document constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and/or "forward-looking information" under the Securities Act (Ontario). These statements may include, without limitation, plans to complete a sale, merger, acquisition, or other strategic alternative, statements regarding the status of development, or expenditures relating to the Celacade(TM) System or our VP series of drugs including VP015 and VP025, plans to fund our current activities, statements concerning our partnering activities, health regulatory submissions, strategy, future operations, future financial position, future revenues and projected costs. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "predicts", "potential", "continue", "intends", "could", or the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. We made a number of assumptions in the preparation of these forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, future circumstances or events to differ materially from those projected. These risks include, but are not limited to, the outcome of our strategic review, securing and maintaining corporate alliances, the need for additional capital and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors, including the current status of our programs, on capital availability, the potential dilutive effects of any financing and other risks detailed from time to time in our public disclosure documents or other filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions or other securities regulatory bodies. Additional risks and uncertainties relating to our Company and our business can be found in the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Information Form and Form 20-F for the year ended November 30, 2007, as well as in our later public filings, including our Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter ended August 31, 2008. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof, and we disclaim any intention and have no obligation or responsibility, except as required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Vasogen Inc. CONTACT: Glenn Neumann, Investor Relations, 4 Robert Speck Parkway, 15th Floor, Mississauga, ON, L4Z 1S1, tel: (905) 817-2004, fax: (905) 847-6270, http://www.vasogen.com/,

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