Alfacell appoints Dr. Stephen K. Carter to its board of directors.

BLOOMFIELD, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 1997--Alfacell Corp. (NASDAQ:ACEL) announced today that it has appointed Stephen K. Carter, M.D., a renowned cancer specialist with outstanding pharmaceutical industry experience, to its board of directors.

In addition, Dr. Carter was also named as chairman and director of Alfacell's Scientific Advisory Board.

Dr. Carter spent more than 13 years with Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals, an international leader in the development of innovative anticancer and antiviral therapies. He held a variety of senior executive research and development positions, including serving for five years as senior vice president of Worldwide Clinical Research and Development for their Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Dr. Carter is widely acknowledged for his significant contributions to building Bristol-Myers Squibb's oncology business into the largest in the world, and played a major role in gaining regulatory approval of a number of the most-widely used cancer and AIDS drugs. Most recently, Dr. Carter served as senior vice president of Research and Development for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals.

From 1976-82 Dr. Carter established and directed the Northern California Cancer Program. Prior to that he served in a number of different positions during a nine-year tenure with the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. Among the positions he held were the following: Special Assistant for Clinical Trials to the Scientific Director of Chemotherapy, Chief of the Cancer Therapy Evaluation Branch, Associate Director for Cancer Therapy Evaluation in the Division of Cancer Treatment, and Deputy Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment. Additionally, he led the organization of several major new clinical trial groups for a number of cancer indications, actively participated in the restructuring of the NCI cancer drug screening and development program, and served as the NCI liaison to various international agreements to foster the development of cancer therapeutics. He has also been a member of the faculties of the medical schools of Stanford University, the University of California at San Francisco, and New York University.

Dr. Carter has notable experience in the discovery and development of anticancer and anti-HIV drugs. Additionally, he has held responsibilities for strategic product planning, licensing of biotechnology products in both Europe and Japan, and has led all major functions of research and development. Dr. Carter has published extensively on the development of anticancer drugs, has served as the cofounding editor of journals devoted to cancer therapeutics or immunotherapy, and has served on the editorial boards of a number of other journals devoted to cancer treatment. He also has international experience with pharmaceutical licensing in Europe and Japan.

Dr. Carter holds a bachelor's degree in American History from Columbia University and earned a medical degree from New York Medical College.

"I am excited about joining Alfacell and being a part of the development of ONCONASE(R)," said Dr. Carter. "I have spent my entire professional life in the development of better pharmaceutical treatments for cancer and AIDS, and am convinced that many of the new breakthroughs are going to come from innovative technologies being developed by emerging companies like Alfacell."

Alfacell Corp., the world leader in the development of ribonucleases (RNases) for therapeutic applications, is currently testing ONCONASE(R), an investigational antitumor agent, against solid tumors in various clinical trials. ONCONASE is the smallest known member of the superfamily of pancreatic RNases, and is the only cytotoxic RNase currently in clinical trials. Additionally, it has demonstrated, both in vitro and in vivo, an ability to overcome multiple drug resistance (MDR) in various tumor models. MDR is thought to be responsible for approximately 90 percent of chemotherapy failures. Alfacell is currently conducting multi-center Phase I, II and III clinical trials of ONCONASE against a number of solid tumors, including pancreatic adenocarcinoma, malignant mesothelioma, advanced renal cell carcinoma and prostate cancer.

"We are very fortunate to have someone of Dr. Carter's experience join our boards," said Kuslima Shogen, Alfacell's chief executive officer and chairman of the board. "His vast background in drug development and medical affairs augments the experience of our board and will assist Alfacell as we move forward in the regulatory process to gain marketing approval for ONCONASE(R)."

Alfacell, a biopharmaceutical company located in Bloomfield, N.J., is engaged primarily in the research and development of novel ribonuclease enzymes for various therapeutic applications. The company's common stock is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "ACEL."

CONTACT: Donna Brasko

201/748-8082