CAT and Genzyme collaboration

Cambridge Antibody Tech Group PLC
28 September 2000


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CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY AND GENZYME GENERAL TO COLLABORATE ON
DEVELOPMENT OF HUMAN ANTI-TGF beta MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES

Melbourn UK  and Cambridge, Mass. Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE: CAT) and
Genzyme General (Nasdaq: GENZ) today announced a broad strategic alliance to
develop and commercialise human monoclonal antibodies directed against
TGF-beta.   All clinical indications, with the exception of ophthalmic uses,
are covered by the agreement.  

The partners plan to focus initially on developing a fully human monoclonal
antibody-based treatment for diffuse scleroderma, a chronic and
life-threatening disorder in which the production of excess collagen leads to
scarring of the skin and internal organs.  About 40 percent of all patients
with this disorder die within ten years of diagnosis.  There is currently no
effective therapy for the disease, which affects an estimated 200,000 people
worldwide. 

Other potential clinical indications of anti-TGF-beta treatment include
post-surgical scarring, fibrosis of all major organs such as the lungs, liver,
and kidneys, and certain forms of cancer. 

'Partnering with a world leader in the development of fully human monoclonal
antibodies accelerates and substantially strengthens our anti-TGF-beta
programme,' said Henri A. Termeer, chairman and chief executive of Genzyme
Corp.  'This collaboration also represents an important expansion of our
product-development strategy, in that we are developing a product with the
potential to treat a wide variety of disorders affecting larger patient
populations.'

Dr. David Chiswell, chief executive officer of CAT, said: 'This collaboration
with Genzyme offers us the opportunity to expand and accelerate our
anti-TGF-beta programmes with a partner that is already committed to this
area, and should prove to be a powerful combination that plays to both
companies' core strengths. It is the first agreement that we have made for
product candidates that we have developed through the preclinical stage into
clinical trials and, as such, is a great endorsement of the product
development capabilities that we have built in the company. This agreement
enables CAT to take a greater share of the rewards of successful product
development.' 

Terms of the Agreement

Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, Genzyme has received an
exclusive worldwide licence to CAT's fully human antibodies directed against
TGF-beta for all uses excluding ophthalmology.  Additionally, Genzyme has
received a non-exclusive worldwide licence from CAT for non-antibody
antagonists of TGF-beta in exchange for milestones and royalties. 

Research and development and commercialisation activities of the collaboration
will be funded jointly and the partners will share profits. CAT will also
receive significant credit for its contribution to the collaboration at the
outset which will be applied to the calculation of future profit sharing.
Genzyme will manage the clinical and regulatory development of any products
developed by the collaboration, and will also be responsible for worldwide
marketing and sales.  CAT will be responsible for antibody optimisation and
will co-develop antibodies with Genzyme.  

In addition, Genzyme will make a $20 million equity investment in CAT at a 15
percent premium to the average of CAT's share price over the 20 business days
preceding the date of the agreement. 307,982 CAT shares will be issued to
Genzyme at a price of £44.59 per share, giving Genzyme an equity stake of
approximately 0.9 per cent in CAT. Application will be made to the UK Listing
Authority for the shares to be listed and to the London Stock Exchange for the
shares to be admitted to trading. It is expected that these shares will
commence trading on Tuesday 3 October 2000. 

CAT has retained full rights for ophthalmology indications and will continue
the development of CAT-152 and CAT-192 for these indications, expecting to
bring in a specialist ophthalmology partner before marketing.



Notes to Editors:

Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE:CAT)
CAT is a UK biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies in fully
human monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug development.  Based in
Melbourn, 10 miles south of Cambridge, England, CAT currently employs around
180 people.  
CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange, having raised £41m in its IPO in
March 1997. A secondary offering in March 2000 raised £93m.
CAT has a world-leading platform technology for rapidly isolating fully human
monoclonal antibodies using phage display.  CAT has an extensive phage display
antibody library, currently incorporating around 100 billion distinct
antibodies. This library forms the basis for the company's strategy to develop
a portfolio of clinical development programmes and for discovering new drug
leads using functional genomics.  Four fully human therapeutic antibodies
developed by CAT are at various stages of clinical trials.
CAT has a number of license and collaborative agreements in place with
pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies including: Eli Lilly, Pfizer, BASF
Pharma, Genentech, ICOS Corporation, Genetics Institute, Wyeth-Ayerst, Human
Genome Sciences, AstraZeneca, Oxford GlycoSciences and Pharmacia. 
 
Genzyme General (NASDAQ: GENZ)
Genzyme General develops and markets therapeutic products and diagnostic
products and services.  Genzyme General has three therapeutic products on the
market and a strong pipeline of products in development for the treatment of
genetic disorders. A division of the biotechnology company Genzyme Corp.,
Genzyme General has its own common stock intended to reflect its value and
track its economic performance.

Anti-TGF-beta Monoclonal Antibodies
TGF-beta is a naturally occurring growth factor that plays a central role in a
number of biological processes.  Prolonged production of TGF-beta has been
implicated in scarring/fibrotic disorders such as diffuse scleroderma and
pulmonary, renal, and liver fibrosis.  It has also been implicated in a
variety of autoimmune disorders and cancer.  Animal model experiments have
indicated that modulation of TGF-beta with neutralising monoclonal antibodies
has the potential to have a therapeutic effect in reversing the progression of
pathological scarring/fibrosis.
Intellectual property relating to the therapeutic use of TGF-beta antibodies
was licensed from The Burnham Institute in La Jolla, CA, the University of
Utah and Integra, Inc.
Genzyme has broad expertise in the biology and development of TGF-beta and a
strong intellectual property position in this field.  Genzyme's TGF-beta
antagonist research and development programme is broad-based, covering
antibody, receptor, and small-molecule approaches to TGF-beta modulation. 
Genzyme General is developing a number of compounds designed to inhibit the
activity of TGF-beta, including its lead compound in this area, a murine
pan-specific monoclonal antibody known as 1D11 which neutralises TGF-beta1,
TGF-beta2 and TGF-beta3.  Genzyme has been evaluating 1D11 as a potential
therapeutic for diffuse scleroderma. As part of the collaboration, CAT will
use its proprietary phage display technology to prepare a human analogue of
1D11. 

CAT has two anti-TGF-beta human monoclonal antibodies in development, CAT-152
(anti-TGF-beta2) and CAT-192 (anti-TGF-beta1), as well as a substantial
intellectual property position in the field.  Earlier this year, it completed
a phase I trial evaluating the safety of CAT-192 in normal volunteers.  It
also announced in May 2000 positive one-year results from its phase I/IIa
clinical trial evaluating CAT-152 as a treatment to prevent post-operative
scarring in patients undergoing surgery for glaucoma.  A multi-centre phase II
trial is underway. CAT's ophthalmic programme, based around CAT-152, continues
outside the collaboration with Genzyme.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements
regarding the incidence of diffuse scleroderma and the efficacy of agents that
modulate TGF-beta in treating pathological fibrosis.  Actual results may
differ materially based on many factors, including the accuracy of the
parties' estimates of the number of patients with diffuse scleroderma and the
results of pre-clinical and clinical studies of TGF-beta modulators.