October 30, 2000. Karo Bio AB today announced a two-year extension of their drug discovery collaboration with Merck & Co

OCTOBER 30, 2000. KARO BIO AB TODAY ANNOUNCED A TWO-YEAR
EXTENSION OF THEIR DRUG DISCOVERY COLLABORATION WITH MERCK &
CO., INC. THE COLLABORATION IS FOCUSED ON ESTROGEN RECEPTORS.

The collaboration between the two companies began in October 1997 and was
directed toward the development of novel therapies for treatment of
diseases targeting the human estrogen receptors, alpha and beta. Karo Bio
holds US and European patent rights on the estrogen receptor beta. The
discovery of this receptor has opened up new possibilities for development
of new and improved pharmaceuticals for a broad range of diseases. The
collaboration has been successful in design and synthesis of selective
compounds that in pre-clinical studies have led to prioritization of
clinical indications for further development.

” The technology developed by Karo Bio and the success to date in creating
first-generation compounds make this a promising program,” says John W.
Kozarich, Ph.D., Vice President of Biochemistry at Merck Research
Laboratories.” We look forward to extending our collaboration in order to
develop additional lead compounds and to explore the opportunities this
class of drug targets may provide.”

“We are happy that we have agreed to extend our current collaboration,”
says Torben Jørgensen, President of Karo Bio. “From Karo Bio’s point of
view, the research continuation is very important. We are developing
promising compounds, and are committed to continuing to explore the
estrogen receptor area. There are several opportunities to develop better
drugs for the treatment of diseases each with substantial market
potential,” says Jørgensen.

Karo Bio is a leading company within the field of nuclear receptors and
genomics-based drug discovery. The company uses its state-of-the-art
technologies for the development of tissue selective and receptor specific
drugs for major markets. Karo Bio AB, based in Stockholm, Sweden, is a
global drug discovery company with a leading position for drugs acting on
nuclear receptors. Karo Bio has strategic alliances in the nuclear
receptor area with Merck & Co (MRK.NYS), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY.NYS)
and Abbott Laboratories (ABT.NYS). In addition, Karo Bio has a strong
pipeline of projects owned solely by Karo Bio that will be further
reinforced with the BioKey@ technology. Karo Bio has 96 issued patents and
more than 250 patent applications. The company has 120 employees in its
facilities in Stockholm, Sweden and Durham, NC.

Through the Company’s technology access and therapeutic programs, Karo Bio
USA is creating a pipeline of novel pharmaceuticals that act on the wealth
of targets coming from genomics. On May 10, 2000, Novalon merged with Karo
Bio AB to become Karo Bio USA. The company’s BioKey@ assay technology
enables the quick identification of small molecule leads and is the
subject of alliances with Bayer AG (BAY.FSE), Novartis Research
Foundation, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Millennium
Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MLNM.NAS), Ares Serono (AREBE.ZRH), GPC Biotech AG
(GPC.FSE), NovImmune S.A., and Aventis Pharma (NYSE:AVE).

Merck & Co., Inc. is a leading research-driven pharmaceutical products and
service company. Merck discovers, develops, manufactures and markets a
broad range of innovative products to improve human and animal health,
directly and through its joint ventures. Merck-Medco Managed Care. Inc.
manages pharmacy benefits for employers, insurers and other plan sponsors,
encouraging the appropriate use of medicines and providing health
management programs. Through these complementary capabilities, Merck works
to improve quality of life and contain overall health-care costs.

For further information contact:
Torben Jørgensen, President, Karo Bio
Direct telephone: +46-8-608 6020
Mobile telephone: +46-70-749 0811

Per Otteskog, Senior Vice President Investor Relations
Direct telephone: +46 8 608 6018
Fax: +46 8 774 5280
info@karobio.se

www.karobio.se

————————————————————
This information was brought to you by BIT https://www.bit.se
The following files are available for download:
https://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/10/30/20001030BIT00280/bit0001.doc
https://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/10/30/20001030BIT00280/bit0002.pdf