Targacept, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRGT) today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 5,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price of $9.00 per share. All of the shares are being sold by Targacept. Targacept has also granted to the underwriters of the offering a 30-day option to purchase up to 750,000 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. Targacept’s common stock is expected to begin trading on The NASDAQ National Market on April 12, 2006 under the symbol "TRGT."

The managing underwriters of the offering are Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., book-running manager, Pacific Growth Equities, LLC, co-lead, CIBC World Markets Corp. and Lazard Frères & Co. LLC.

Targacept, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina engaged in the design, discovery and development of a new class of drugs to treat central nervous system diseases and disorders by selectively targeting neuronal nicotinic receptors, or NNRs.