XNVA Xenova Grp. Plc ADS (MM)

Xenova Group plc Sale of Farnham Research Facility to Bioventix SLOUGH, England, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Xenova Group plc today announced that it has sold certain premises at its Farnham research facility together with related assets to Bioventix Limited ("Bioventix"). The sale assets constitute part of the business acquired by the Group upon the acquisition of KS Biomedix Holdings plc. The consideration for the sale assets was �0.8m paid in cash. The sale includes certain rights to intellectual property relating to super high-affinity antibodies that are not being developed by Xenova, and provides for the continuation of work by Bioventix on novel three-part proteins ("trimers") being developed under an option agreement with Isis Innovations Ltd. Xenova has retained an option to develop any promising therapeutic candidates arising from this work. In addition, a team of 7 research scientists is transferring with the business to Bioventix. The sale is in line with Xenova's declared strategy following the acquisition of KS Biomedix Holdings plc on 12 September 2003, of focusing on its clinical development portfolio and achieving cost savings through the disposal of non-core business activities and facilities. Commenting on the disposal, David Oxlade, Chief Executive of Xenova, said, "We are pleased to announce continuing progress in achieving the cost savings expected at the time of the acquisition of KS Biomedix Holdings plc and to realize value from non-core assets for our shareholders. The sale to Bioventix, which is being run by Peter Harrison formerly of KS Biomedix, also provides Xenova an option to in-license certain therapeutic candidates." Notes to Editors Xenova Group plc's product pipeline focuses principally on the therapeutic areas of cancer and immune system disorders. Xenova has a broad pipeline of programs in clinical development. The Group has a well-established track record in the identification, development and partnering of innovative products and technologies and has partnerships with significant pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical companies including Celltech, Genentech, Lilly, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Nycomed, Pfizer and QLT. Bioventix Ltd is a company that was formed in order to acquire certain premises at Xenova's Farnham research facility together with related assets and aims to develop and commercialize antibodies and antibody fragments and derivatives initially derived from sheep as diagnostic and therapeutic products. As a result, the Company will sell unlabelled sheep antibodies to T3 for diagnostic use and rights to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic products to other targets. (These rights exclude directly and indirectly labeled diagnostic products to carcino-embryonic antigen (CEA) and directly labeled therapeutic products to CEA.). Bioventix will also develop novel trimeric antibody entities for use in targeting solid tumors. For further information about Xenova and its products please visit the Xenova website at http://www.xenova.co.uk/. For Xenova: Disclaimer to take advantage of the "Safe Harbor" provisions of the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements about our ability to integrate acquired businesses and realize cost savings from integration, and the discovery, development and commercialization of products. Various risks may cause Xenova's actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward looking statements, including: unexpected costs and delays in integrating acquired businesses into our group, adverse results in our drug discovery and clinical development programs; failure to obtain patent protection for our discoveries; commercial limitations imposed by patents owned or controlled by third parties; our dependence upon strategic alliance partners to develop and commercialize products and services; difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approvals to market products and services resulting from our development efforts; the requirement for substantial funding to conduct research and development and to expand commercialization activities; and product initiatives by competitors. For a further list and description of the risks and uncertainties we face, see the reports we have filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. DATASOURCE: Xenova Group plc CONTACT: UK: David A Oxlade, Chief Executive Officer, or Daniel Abrams, Finance Director, or Veronica Cefis Sellar, Corporate Communications, all of Xenova Group plc, +44-1753-706600; or David Yates or Ben Atwell, both of Financial Dynamics, +44-207-831-3113; or US: Daniel Budwick (Ext 14), or Press: Brad Miles (Ext 17), or Lee Stern (Ext 22), or Investors: Jonathan Fassberg (Ext 16), all of Trout Group - BMC Communications, +1-212-477-9007 Web site: http://www.xenova.co.uk/

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