ROCHE BIOSCIENCE, LEUKOSITE ANNOUNCE RESEARCH ALLIANCE

PALO ALTO, Calif., and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 31, 1996 -- Roche Bioscience and LeukoSite, Inc., today jointly announced the formation of a research alliance in which the companies will collaborate on the development of new treatments for asthma and allergic disorders. Roche Bioscience and LeukoSite will work together to develop therapeutics based around LeukoSite's new discoveries and technology in eosinophil chemotaxis and recruitment.

"We believe that our collaboration with LeukoSite will accelerate our drug discovery efforts in the field of respiratory diseases," said Robert Booth, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of the Roche Bioscience Inflammatory Diseases Unit. "The infiltration of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, in an activated form into the lung is believed to be a major contributor to the disease process in asthma. The interaction of the recently-discovered chemokine eotaxin, with its receptor, is hypothesized to be a primary regulator of eosinophil recruitment."

Dr. Booth said that LeukoSite has developed specific expertise and broad-based technologies associated with chemokines and their receptors.

"The agreement is another important strategic alliance for LeukoSite," said Christopher Mirabelli, Ph.D., chief executive officer and chairman of the Board of Directors of LeukoSite. "We are gratified with how quickly Roche Bioscience saw the value of LeukoSite's recent discoveries and technologies involving the eosinophil chemokine receptor (CKR-3) and its activating chemokine, human eotaxin. Teaming up with Roche Bioscience, with all of its pharmaceutical research and development expertise, will greatly facilitate our ability to translate these discoveries and technology into a commercial drug product as rapidly as possible."

Under the agreement, LeukoSite receives licensing fees, research and milestone payments and royalties on the sales of products resulting from the collaboration. Roche will fund development and has world-wide exclusive rights to manufacture and sell resulting products.

Roche Bioscience is a research-based, product-focused organization dedicated to the early discovery of innovative prescription drugs. Located in Palo Alto, Calif., Roche Bioscience is a member of the Roche Group, which has headquarters in Basel, Switzerland.

LeukoSite is a privately held biopharmaceutical company that is working on strategies to treat chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease by blocking cellular- and tissue-specific leukocyte migration. LeukoSite is located in Cambridge, Mass.

###

Text goes here