The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today named as chairman of the board of directors, Mark Skaletsky, president and CEO of GelTex Pharmaceuticals Inc., of Waltham, Mass.

Skaletsky will serve as chairman of BIO's board for two years and succeeds Amgen Inc.
Chairman and CEO Gordon Binder. Skaletsky was elected during BIO's annual membership
meeting at the BIO '99 International Meeting & Exhibition, in Seattle, Washington.

Other officers on the 36-member board are: Vice Chairman for Food & Agriculture Carrol
Bolen, vice president of Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., of Des Moines, Ill.; Vice Chairman
for Health Care David E. Robinson, chairman, president and CEO of Ligand Pharmaceuticals
Inc., of San Diego; Secretary Vaughn M. Kailian, president and CEO of COR Therapeutics
Inc., of South San Francisco; and Treasurer Mitchel Sayare, chairman and CEO of ImmunoGen
Inc., of Norwood, Mass.

Others elected to the board for 1999-2000 are:

• David W. Anstice, president of human health -- the Americas, of Merck & Company Inc.,
  Whitehouse Station, N.J.
• Frank Baldino Jr., president and CEO of Cephalon Inc., West Chester, PA
• Simon G. Best, CEO of Roslin Bio-Med Ltd., Roslin Midlothian, Scotland.
• Gordon M. Binder, chairman and CEO of Amgen, Thousand Oaks, Ca
• Wolf-Dieter Busse, senior vice president of biotechnology of Bayer Corp., Berkeley, CA
• Robert Chess, president and CEO of Inhale Therapeutics Systems, San Carlos, CA
• Ralph E. Christoffersen, president and CEO of Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals Inc., Boulder, CO
• Geoffrey F. Cox, chairman and CEO of Aronex Pharmaceuticals Inc., The Woodlands, TX
• Hugh A. D'Andrade, vice chairman and chief administrator officer of Schering-Plough Corp.,
  Madison, N.J.
• Ronald W. Eastman, president and CEO of Geron Corp., Menlo Park, CA
• Patrick Gage, president of Wyeth-Ayerst Research, Philadelphia, PA
• David P. Holveck, CEO of Centocor Inc., Malvern, Pa.
• Thomas C. Humphrey, vice president of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Wilmington, Del.
• Alan J. Lewis, president and CEO of Signal Pharmaceuticals Inc., San Diego.
• Arthur D. Levinson, president and CEO of Genentech Inc., South San Francisco.
• Alex McPherson, president and CEO of Biomira Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
• Joseph A. Mollica, chairman, president and CEO of Pharmacopeia Inc., Princeton, N.J.
• H. Stewart Parker, president and CEO of Targeted Genetics Corp., Seattle.
• Harry H. Penner, president and CEO of Neurogen Corp., Branford, Conn.
• Richard F. Pops, CEO of Alkermes Inc., Cambridge, Mass.
• J. Leighton Read, chairman and CEO of Aviron, Mountain View, Calif.
• Duane J. Roth, chairman and CEO of Alliance Pharmaceutical Corp., San Diego.
• James E. Rurka, president and CEO of Microcide Pharmaceuticals Inc. Mountain View.
• Una S. Ryan, president and CEO of AVANT Immunotherapeutics, of Needham, Mass.
• Frederick W. Telling, vice president of corporate strategic planning of Pfizer Inc., New York.
• Henri A. Termeer, chairman, president and CEO of Genzyme Corp., Cambridge, Mass.
• Hendrik Verfaillie, executive vice president of Monsanto Corp., St. Louis, Mo.
• Douglas Watson, president and CEO of Novartis Corp., Summit, N.J.
• John Walker, chairman of Axys Pharmaceuticals Inc., South San Francisco.
• Carol Webb, president and CEO of Ortho Biotech Inc., Raritan, N.J.
• Thomas G. Wiggans, president and CEO of Connetics Corp., Palo Alto, Calif.

The Biotechnology Industry Organization represents more than 850 biotechnology companies,
academic institutions and state biotechnology centers in 47 states and 26 nations. BIO members
are involved in research and development of health care, agricultural, industrial and environmental
biotechnology products.

BIO news release
N1817