CAT Catco Reinsurance Opportunities Fund Limited

RNS No 6724e
CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY GROUP PLC
31 August 1999


AstraZeneca
Lucy Williams 
London Corporate Office, 
15 Stanhope Gate, London.                            Tel: +44 (0)171 304 5034

Cambridge Antibody Technology 
Dr David Chiswell, Chief Executive Officer
Dr Kevin Johnson, Research Director
Rowena Gardner, Communications Manager               Tel: +44 (0) 1763 263 233
      

HCC De Facto (press enquiries)
City/Financial, Rebecca Hennessy       
Trade/Science, Nikul Odedra                          Tel: +44 (0) 171 496 3300

CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES RESEARCH COLLABORATION WITH
ASTRAZENECA

Further endorsement of CAT's position in functional genomics technologies

Melbourn, UK and Loughborough, UK: Cambridge Antibody Technology ("CAT") today
announces a research collaboration with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca
plc.
 
CAT will use its ProAb technology to isolate and provide antibody-based
research reagents specific for cell-surface receptors and intracellular
targets provided by AstraZeneca. CAT will conduct high-throughput
immunocytochemistry to analyse the expression of these proteins in normal and
diseased human tissues.  In addition, CAT's ProxiMol technology will be used
for the rapid generation of biologically active antibodies to explore the
function of a number of receptors. Both technology platforms will serve to
identify points of potential pharmacologic intervention for antibody and
non-antibody-based drugs. 

Under the terms of the agreement, CAT receives revenues from AstraZeneca and
retains all rights to develop and commercialise any antibodies generated in
the collaboration.  The programme is expected to last for a period of about
six months, after which a decision will be made about further collaboration.

Dr.Gill Smith, Director of Molecular Biology, AstraZeneca R&D, Charnwood,
commented: 

"We are impressed by CAT's integrated platform for high-throughput
immunocytochemistry using phage display antibodies and we are keen to explore
this and their ProxiMol blocking antibody technology in target discovery and
validation."

Dr. Kevin Johnson, Research Director at CAT added:
"We are delighted with this opportunity to collaborate with AstraZeneca.  It
is a further validation by the pharmaceutical industry of our investment in
ProAb and ProxiMol.  This, together with our recent alliances with
Wyeth-Ayerst and Human Genome Sciences, highlights the need for high
throughput discovery capabilities to explore and validate the disease targets
of the future, in particular those from genomics initiatives."

Notes 

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
150 people.  In March 1997, CAT completed its initial public offering and
listing on the London Stock Exchange, raising approximately #41 million.

CAT has a world-leading platform technology for rapidly isolating fully human
monoclonal antibodies using phage display systems. 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 fully human therapeutic antibodies and for discovering new drug
leads using the functional genomics platforms ProAb and ProxiMol. Three 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/BASF Pharma,
Wyeth-Ayerst and Human Genome Sciences.

ProAb and ProxiMol 

ProAb is CAT's approach to functional genomics using the antibody library as a
tool to build a database of information on where a protein is made, where it
ends up and whether it has any connection with important diseases.  Proteins
implicated with disease can then be the principle targets of antibody and
small molecule drugs.  ProAb has been developed to a level where CAT can
analyse data on approximately 1,000 potential drug targets per month.  

ProxiMol is a proprietary method for identifying molecules in close proximity
to a potential drug target, for isolating antibodies which block the target
binding to its natural ligand, and for providing important information related
to target validation and new target discovery. ProAb and ProxiMol, along with
bioinformatics software CONT1NUITY, provide powerful, high throughput and
complementary tools for selecting the most promising targets for drug
discovery.

AstraZeneca plc 

AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading ethical pharmaceutical companies.


END

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