Leiden, The Netherlands, March 4, 2002 - Dutch antibody and vaccine company Crucell N.V. (NASDAQ, Euronext: CRXL) today announced that Galapagos Genomics NV intends to complete a private placement. The financial investors include a triple-A consortium of venture capital firms not related to Crucell. Financial details will be disclosed in a Galapagos Genomics NV press release this week.

 

Galapagos Genomics NV was founded by Crucell to exploit its proprietary human cell expression platform PER.C6 in the field of functional genomics. It was established in 1999 as a joint venture with the Belgium-based Tibotec-Virco, which contributed its high throughput screening technologies. To date, these companies jointly invested 9 million Euro in Galapagos.

Crucell's CEO Dinko Valerio said: "We are proud of the successes achieved by Galapagos Genomics. It falls in line with Crucell's strategy of rolling out our PER.C6 technology as an industry-wide human cell expression platform. This is one of the ways in which we seek to capitalize on the great commercial value of PER.C6 and to create value for our shareholders."

Galapagos is focused on drug target discovery in human cells and has built a functional genomics platform using arrayed adenoviruses containing human genes to identify drug targets and therapeutic genes. Its PhenoSelect libraries are in a format that enables high-throughput screening using cellular assays. Galapagos' technology is based on PER.C6, for which it has an exclusive license for functional genomics applications.

Galapagos has signed on a large number of reputed partners, including Pharmacia, Bayer, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Incyte Genomics, Exelixis, Procter&Gamble Pharmaceuticals, UCB Pharma, Organon (Akzo Nobel) and Euroscreen.

About Crucell
Dutch biotechnology company Crucell discovers and develops antibody and vaccine products against cancer, inflammatory and infectious diseases.
The company licenses products with (bio)pharmaceutical firms for which it receives upfront and annual payments, milestones and royalties.
Crucell is currently developing antibodies against different types of cancer and has additional programs in inflammation, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Crucell will leverage its proprietary MAbstract technology to discover new targets and antibodies.
Crucell's CD-46 antibody against various types of cancers is licensed to Centocor, a Johnson & Johnson company. Crucell retains the commercial rights for Europe for this product.
Merck & Co. has obtained the exclusive rights to use Crucell's PER.C6 human cell system for the production of the vaccine's key adenoviral vector. Merck & Co. is currently conducting Phase I/II trials with its vaccine.
The company has furthermore developed a revolutionary new flu vaccine production system, based on its patented human cell system PER.C6. PER.C6 is widely embraced by the industry for the production of gene therapy products and viral vectors.
Crucell has been listed on the NASDAQ and Euronext exchanges since October 2000. Crucell has its headquarters in Leiden, the Netherlands, and currently employs 180 people.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. We have identified certain important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements. See our Form 20-F, as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on June 29, 2001 and the section of the Form 20-F entitled "Risk Factors".

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