Millennium and UCB Pharma Enter Into Agreement to Collaborate on Two Biotherapeutic Inflammation Programs

BRUSSELS, Belgium and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UCB Pharma's Celltech Antibody Research Centre of Excellence and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced they have entered into an agreement in which they will collaborate to research, develop and commercialize new antibody therapeutics generated from two validated Millennium targets: a co-stimulatory molecule and a chemokine receptor.

The co-stimulatory molecule is a CD28 homologue and has been implicated in the regulation and activation of T cells. The chemokine receptor is expressed on peripheral T cells and has been implicated in multiple inflammatory diseases, including psoriasis, ulcerative colitis and graft rejection. Millennium controls broad patent estates relating to therapeutics directed to these targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, UCB Pharma will be responsible for development activities and related costs through phase II studies, including generating antibody candidates, and the preclinical and early stage clinical evaluation of antibodies. Upon the agreement of the parties, Millennium retains the option to co-develop and co-commercialize products with UCB Pharma, under a cost- and profit-sharing arrangement. UCB Pharma will make payments to Millennium upon achievement of certain clinical milestones. Additional financial details were not disclosed.

"Our highest priority is to develop a balanced and comprehensive portfolio. By working with UCB Pharma, we are able to accelerate development of these two exciting programs while concentrating more of our internal resources to maximize development of our later stage pipeline programs," said Joseph Bolen, Ph.D, senior vice president, discovery research at Millennium. "With UCB Pharma's world-leading antibody expertise, gained through its recent acquisition of Celltech, along with its extensive global commercial reach, we believe it is the ideal partner to rapidly progress these exciting programs into clinical trials."

Dr. Melanie Lee, Director of Research and Development for UCB Pharma commented: "We believe this new collaboration adds two interesting novel targets to our research pipeline, creating a formidable partnership to bring the next wave of innovation to sufferers of inflammatory disorders."

About Millennium

Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., markets VELCADE(R) (bortezomib) for Injection, a novel cancer product, co-promotes INTEGRILIN(R) (eptifibatide) Injection, a market-leading cardiovascular product, and has a robust clinical development pipeline of product candidates. The Company's research, development and commercialization activities are focused in three therapeutic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, and inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome, its understanding of disease mechanisms, and its industrialized drug discovery platform, Millennium is seeking to develop breakthrough products.

About UCB

UCB Pharma is part of the UCB Group of companies, a global pharmaceutical and specialty chemical company with headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. UCB Pharma is a leading biopharmaceutical company, specialising in the fields of central nervous system disorders, allergy and respiratory disease, immune and inflammatory disorders and oncology. UCB Pharma's key products are Keppra(R) (antiepileptic), Xyzal(R) and Zyrtec (antiallergics), Nootropil(R) (cerebral function regulator) and Tussionex(R) (antitussive). UCB Pharma employs more than 8,000 people operating in over 100 countries, and in 2003 achieved sales of 1.5 billion Euros. In October 2004 UCB announced the proposed sale of its Surface Specialties business to enable the Company to focus on its biopharmaceutical activities.

For Millennium:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements about the Company's discovery and development of products and strategic alliances. Various important risks may cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the results indicated by these forward-looking statements, including: adverse results in its drug discovery and clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for its discoveries; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; the Company's dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services based on its work; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from its development efforts; product withdrawals; competitive factors; difficulties or delays in manufacturing the Company's products; government and third party reimbursement rates; the commercial success of VELCADE and INTEGRILIN; achieving revenue consistent with internal forecasts; and the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties the Company faces, see the reports it has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

This release is available under the Media section on the Company's website at http://www.millennium.com/

   Contacts:

   Media:
   Adriana Jenkins
   (617) 761-6996

   Investors:
   Kyle Kuvalanka
   (617) 761-4734

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