CAT agreement with Merck & Co

RNS Number:1096D
Cambridge Antibody Tech Group PLC
30 October 2002

02/CAT/ 25

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

07.00 BST 02.00 EST 30 October 2002

For further information contact:

Cambridge Antibody Technology Weber Shandwick Square Mile (Europe)
Tel: +44 (0) 1763 263 233 Tel: +44 (0) 20 7950 2800
Peter Chambre, Chief Executive Officer Kevin Smith
John Aston, Chief Financial Officer Graham Herring
Rowena Gardner, Director of Corporate Communications
BMC Communications/The Trout Group (USA)
Tel: 001 212 477 9007
Brad Miles, ext 17 (media)
Brandon Lewis, ext.15 (investors)

CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY BROADENS RELATIONSHIP WITH MERCK & CO., INC.

Licence granted to human antibody libraries

Melbourn, UK... Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE: CAT; NASDAQ: CATG)
announces today that it has entered into a second agreement with Merck & Co.,
Inc. (NYSE: MRK) in respect of its proprietary human antibody technologies.
Under the terms of this second agreement, CAT has granted Merck a licence to its
human phage antibody libraries. The libraries will be used by Merck to support
and promote discovery research and development across a broad range of
therapeutic areas.

CAT will receive an upfront licence fee including a technology access fee upon
transfer of the libraries to the designated Merck sites. In addition CAT may
receive future option, milestone and royalty payments from Merck. Merck receives
option rights to develop therapeutic and diagnostic products on an exclusive
basis.

CAT and Merck entered into a separate collaboration and licence agreement a year
ago for the research and development of products specific for a protein involved
in disease mediated by HIV.

Peter Chambre, Chief Executive Officer of CAT, commented "We have been greatly
encouraged by the progress of our product collaboration with Merck to date, so
the announcement of this second broad agreement just one year later is immensely
exciting. While our first agreement had represented CAT's first product alliance
in infectious disease, the prospect of our world-leading antibody technologies
now being applied more widely within the Merck organisation is greatly welcomed
by CAT. We are delighted with the enthusiasm being shown by well-established
pharmaceutical companies such as Merck for the potential of CAT's technology".

-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:

Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT)

CAT is a UK-based biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies and
capabilities in human monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug
development. Based near Cambridge, England, CAT currently employs around 280
people.

CAT is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic antibodies
and has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly isolating human
monoclonal antibodies using phage display systems. CAT has extensive phage
antibody libraries, currently incorporating more than 100 billion distinct
antibodies. These libraries form the basis for the Company's strategy to develop
a portfolio of antibody-based drugs.

D2E7, the leading CAT-derived antibody, has been submitted for regulatory review
by Abbott (responsible for development and marketing) following the completion
of Phase III trials. Six other CAT-derived human therapeutic antibodies are at
various stages of clinical trials.

CAT has alliances with a large number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology
companies to discover, develop and commercialise human monoclonal antibody-based
products. CAT has also licensed its proprietary human phage antibody libraries
to several companies for target validation and drug discovery. CAT's
collaborators include: Abbott, Amgen, Amrad, Chugai, Elan, Genzyme, Human Genome
Sciences, Merck & Co, Pharmacia and Wyeth Research.

CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ since June 2001. CAT
raised #41m in its IPO in March 1997 and #93m in a secondary offering in March
2000.

Merck & Co., Inc.

Merck & Co., Inc. is a leading research-driven pharmaceutical products and
services company. Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a broad
range of innovative products to improve human and animal health, directly and
through its joint ventures. Merck-Medco manages pharmacy benefits for employers,
insurers and other plan sponsors, encouraging the appropriate use of medicines
and providing disease management programs. Through these complementary
capabilities, Merck works to improve quality of life and contain overall
health-care costs.

Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995:

This press release contains statements about Cambridge Antibody Technology Group
plc ("CAT") that are forward looking statements. All statements other than
statements of historical facts included in this press release may be forward
looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange
Act of 1934. These forward looking statements are based on numerous assumptions
regarding CAT's present and future business strategies and the environment in
which CAT will operate in the future. Certain factors that could cause CAT's
actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in
the forward looking statements include: market conditions, CAT's ability to
enter into and maintain collaborative arrangements, success of product
candidates in clinical trials, regulatory developments and competition.

This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

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