Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, formerly Cambridge Combinatorial, a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group plc, and Zeneca Agrochemicals, the crop protection and plant science business of AstraZeneca, today announced a major chemistry R&D collaboration.

Cambridge Discovery Chemistry will take over responsibility for Zeneca's chemistry research facility within Zeneca's R & D Center in Richmond, Calif., near San Francisco. The collaboration strengthens Cambridge Discovery Chemistry's business in North America and makes the company one of the first in its field to have research facilities in both the US and Europe.

Research carried out by Cambridge Discovery Chemistry will be funded, for a defined period, by Zeneca Agrochemicals, providing flexibility in managing the level of resource required in its discovery programs. The agreement initially involves Cambridge Discovery Chemistry providing chemistry services to Zeneca, with the potential to increase the number of participating research scientists.

Additionally, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry will be able to expand the facilities to accommodate ongoing growth requirements, and new discovery programs from its pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology business.

Dr. Allan Marchington, Chief Executive of Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, said, ``This agreement will allow us to expand our chemistry capacity and establish a high-quality, research base in the US. We will build a strong medicinal chemistry function in San Francisco to complement the existing chemists' capabilities in combinatorial chemistry and automation.''

Zeneca Agrochemicals' Director of Research and Development, Dr. David Evans, said, ``This collaboration offers us the opportunity to combine world-class combinatorial chemistry expertise in a flexible research arrangement which will greatly benefit both our businesses.''

The transaction is subject to the parties entering into definitive agreements and other customary closing conditions.

Cambridge Discovery Chemistry

Cambridge Discovery Chemistry (formerly known as Cambridge Combinatorial Limited) provides
world-class, innovative chemistry services to accelerate discovery and process research, servicing the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries.

The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group plc. Cambridge Discovery
Chemistry has developed leading technologies for discovery research including innovative molecular design, novel chemistries, new synthetic chemistry platforms and a comprehensive integrated informatics system.

The company acts as an extension to the resources of its collaborators with solutions for discovery research including medicinal and combinatorial chemistry for lead generation, validation, optimization and technology transfer as required.

Cambridge Discovery Chemistry supplies the molecular design and synthesis arm of Oxford Molecular's Collaborative Discovery. Collaborative Discovery acts as a central point for multi-disciplinary research projects involving both chemistry and biology research.

Cambridge Discovery Chemistry has secured many discovery collaborations with a range of
pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies spanning the US, Japan and Europe these include: Merck & Co. Inc., Pfizer, Procter & Gamble Pharmaceuticals Inc., Rohm & Haas, Alizyme, Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Yamanouchi and Fujisawa.

Oxford Molecular Group plc

Oxford Molecular is a leading provider of discovery and software solutions to the life sciences market. The Company seeks to deliver excellence in all its products and services and to help its customers benefit from the synergy that is created from the integration of state-of-the-art chemistry, biology and information technology infrastructure.

The Discovery Solutions Division offers discovery research through collaboration, by providing world-class innovative technologies in chemistry and biology which intimately match customer needs and add value to their research programs. The Software Solutions Division supplies enterprise-wide software and information technology solutions for research across the entire drug discovery process.

Innovative and superior products target customer needs for excellence in each area of discovery research; and together they form integrated solutions that add value to the flow of information through the customer's research process. The Company has its headquarters in Oxford, England and has operations throughout the USA as well as sales offices and agents around the world.

Zeneca Agrochemicals

Zeneca Agrochemicals is the crop protection and plant science business of AstraZeneca PLC. It is the third largest supplier to this international market, with sales in 1998 of $2.88 billion in over 130 countries. AstraZeneca PLC (Registered Office, London) is a leading international pharmaceuticals and bioscience group with 1998 pro forma sales of $15.8 billion.

Zeneca Ag Products is a business unit of Zeneca Inc. in the United States and Zeneca Agro is a business unit of Zeneca Corp. in Canada. Both are wholly owned subsidiaries of AstraZeneca PLC. Zeneca Ag Products and Zeneca Agro together form a $1 billion agrochemical business with approximately 1,700 employees in North America.

On December 2, 1999, it was announced by the Board of AstraZeneca PLC that it had agreed with the Board of Novartis AG to demerge and simultaneously merge AstraZeneca's agrochemicals and Novartis' agrochemicals and seeds business to create a new listed company, Syngenta AG.

The merger, which is subject to various conditions including competition authority and shareholder approval, is expected to be completed in the second half of 2000.

Company news release
N2304