MILLENNIUM ANNOUNCES PLAN TO ACQUIRE CAMBRIDGE DISCOVERY CHEMISTRY™
Acquisition Enhances Millennium’s Downstream Drug Discovery Efforts and Broadens Global Capabilities
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. and Oxford, U.K., July 6, 2000 -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM) and Oxford Molecular Group Plc (LSE: OMG) today announced that they have entered into an agreement that provides for Millennium to acquire Cambridge Discovery Chemistry™, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group. Once completed, this acquisition will provide Millennium with the critical mass in medicinal and computational chemistry necessary to expand the Company’s global capability and significantly accelerate its downstream drug discovery efforts.
Based in Cambridge, U.K., Cambridge Discovery Chemistry provides medicinal and computational chemistry research services to the pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries for lead generation, validation, optimization and technology transfer. The planned acquisition will add approximately 85 expert chemists, many with significant pharmaceutical chemistry experience, to Millennium's discovery research team, bringing the company’s total chemistry capability to 150 with plans for continued growth. Following completion of the acquisition, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry will fully integrate with Millennium and continue to base its operations in Cambridge, U.K., thereby establishing a presence for Millennium in one of the strongest and most innovative pharmaceutical and technology centers in Europe and expanding the company’s drug discovery opportunities across the globe.
Millennium Announces Plan to Acquire Cambridge Discovery Chemistry to Enhance Drug Discovery Efforts
"We view our merger and acquisition initiatives as critical strategic components in building a fully-integrated global biopharmaceutical company. The combination of Cambridge Discovery Chemistry’s world-leading strength in discovery chemistry with Millennium’s integrated science and technology platform and robust product pipeline brings us further downstream towards our goal of leading the delivery of personalized medicine," said Mark Levin, chairman and chief executive officer at Millennium. "This enhanced discovery research capability will be invaluable not only in advancing Millennium’s proprietary pipeline, but in Millennium’s recently announced strategic alliance with Aventis, a collaboration for the discovery, development and commercialization of anti-inflammatory drugs and the development of drug discovery technologies."
"Cambridge Discovery Chemistry has become recognized worldwide for its capabilities in medicinal chemistry, drug design and intelligent synthesis. We are now delighted to bring this capability to Millennium, an acknowledged leader in genomics-based drug discovery and development, and to have the opportunity to contribute to the creation of a world-leading biopharmaceutical company," said Allan Marchington, Ph.D., chief executive officer, Cambridge Discovery Chemistry.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is expected to close in late July and is conditional upon a majority vote of Oxford Molecular Group shareholders, Millennium will acquire Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, the principal component of OMG’s Discovery Solutions Division. The purchase price is £35 million (equal to approximately $53 million, based on the exchange rate on July 5, 2000), which will be paid in cash. Millennium expects to finance the purchase price through a simultaneous private placement of its securities. The acquisition will be accounted for using the purchase method of accounting.
"Chemistry is a crucial component of small molecule drug discovery," said Kazumi Shiosaki, Ph.D., senior vice president, drug discovery at Millennium. "The addition of Cambridge Discovery Chemistry’s medicinal and computational chemistry expertise allows Millennium to accelerate our existing lead optimization program and fuels our drug discovery and development engine. Cambridge Discovery Chemistry’s expertise ideally complements our internal drug discovery capability, which focuses on high throughput druggable targets. Additionally, establishing a U.K. presence affords Millennium a foothold in Europe and provides a strong base from which to attract scientific talent."
Millennium, a leading biopharmaceutical company, applies its comprehensive and integrated science and technology platform for the discovery and development of breakthrough therapeutic and predictive medicine products, with a goal of delivering personalized medicine. Through the industrialization of this gene-to-patient platform, Millennium is also striving to accelerate the process of drug discovery and development. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and its affiliates currently employ more than 1,000 people.
Millennium Announces Plan to Acquire Cambridge Discovery Chemistry to Enhance Drug Discovery Efforts
Cambridge Discovery Chemistry provides world-class innovative chemistry services to accelerate discovery and process research, servicing some of the world’s top pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology companies. 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. Cambridge Discovery Chemistry is headquartered in Cambridge, U.K. and employs 130 people.
For further information, please contact:
Cambridge Discovery Chemistry:
Allan Marchington, Chief Executive Officer, Tel: +44 1223 722400
Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc:
Lilian Stern, Investor Relations, Tel: +1 212 315 0145
Lynn Smiledge, Media, Tel: +1 617 761 4700
Oxford Molecular Group:
Lawrence Steingold, Tel: +44 1865 784600
HCC.·De Facto:
Dr. Chris Gardner, Tel: +44 207 496 3300
This press release contains "forward-looking statements." These statements include descriptions of Millennium's operational plans, expectations about future earnings and other results of operations, views of future industry or market conditions, and other statement that include words like "may," "expects," "believes," and "intends," and that describe opinions about future events. Known and unknown risks may cause Millennium's actual results and performances to be materially different from those expressed or implied by these statements. Some of these risks are: uncertainties relating to unanticipated difficulties and delays relating to gene identification, drug discovery and clinical development processes; changes in relationships with strategic partners and dependence upon strategic partners for the performance of critical activities under collaborative agreements; the impact of competitive products and technological changes; uncertainties relating to patent protection and regulatory approval; and uncertainties relating to the ability of Millennium and its affiliates to obtain substantial additional funds required for progress in drug discovery and development. These and other factors are identified and more fully explained under the heading "Risk Factors That May Affect Results" in the annual report on Form 10-K filed by Millennium with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 25, 2000.
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Editor's Note: This release is available on Millennium's website at: http://www.mlnm.com.