Leiden, The Netherlands, January 15, 2001 - Crucell N.V. (EAX Amsterdam: CRXL; Nasdaq: CRXL), a leading Netherlands based biotechnology company, today announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with US based Cell Genesys Inc. (Nasdaq: CEGE) for access to its PER.C6 technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Cell Genesys will license Crucell's PER.C6 adenoviral packaging cell line for research purposes, with an option to convert to a commercial license within five years. Financial terms were not disclosed. Cell Genesys, a leading gene therapy company, is focused on the development and commercialization of cancer vaccines and gene therapies to treat major, life-threatening diseases which include cancer, hemophilia, cardiovascular disease and Parkinson's disease.

"This 15th license agreement highlights Crucell's leading position in the field of adenovirus based gene therapy", commented Dinko Valerio, Crucell's President and CEO. "We are excited about this collaboration with Cell Genesys, a company that has the largest patent portfolio in the gene therapy field and is one of the pioneering companies in gene therapy and recombinant virus technologies."

Crucell N.V. was formed in June 2000, through the merger of IntroGene B.V. and U-BiSys B.V., both from The Netherlands and listed on October 27, 2000 on both Nasdaq and Euronext Amsterdam. Crucell has two widely applicable technology platforms, a human cell line expression platform, PER.C6, and a subtractive phage antibody-display selection technology, called MAbstract, which provide a powerful and effective means to discover, develop and produce a variety of biopharmaceuticals for the treatment of human diseases, such as vaccines, human antibodies, therapeutic proteins and gene-therapy products. Crucell's technologies are fully human and, as such, enable biopharmaceuticals to be developed and produced that do not have the limitations inherent in many biopharmaceuticals currently available. Crucell has signed 15 license agreements for PER.C6 with major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Crucell is investing in functional genomics through its joint venture with Belgian based Tibotec, called Galapagos Genomics. Crucell currently employs approximately 115 people in its facilities in Leiden, Utrecht and Leuven (Belgium).