Amersham Biosciences Expands Bioprocess Capabilities Into Filtration; Acquisition of AG Technology and InnovaSep Technology.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

PISCATAWAY, N.J.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 1, 2002

Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham plc (LSE, NYSE, OSE: AHM), today announced the acquisition of two filtration separation companies, AG Technology and InnovaSep Technology, both based near Boston, MA.

Adding filtration to its market-leading separations business enables Amersham Biosciences to broaden its bioprocessing offering to biopharmaceutical customers.

AG Technology was founded in 1981 and is an established supplier of filtration systems used in the production of biopharmaceuticals. The company has 28 employees and annual sales of $9m, which have grown at around 20% a year as its hollow-fiber filtration technology increases its share of the growing filtration market. InnovaSep Technology is a recently founded company with a strong management team with over 20 years experience in the industry and several new, patent-pending membrane filtration technologies. The total consideration will range from $40-60m depending on performance achievements over six years.

"Our bioprocess business is the world leader in chromatography separation - our systems and media are used in the production of over 90% of all biopharmaceuticals on the market today. Moving into the filtration market is a natural extension of our business and these acquisitions give us an immediate position in that market. In addition, they give us the opportunity to develop integrated solutions that will make the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals even more efficient in the future," said Peter Ehrenheim, Executive Vice President, Separations, Amersham Biosciences.

Bioprocessing, the industrial-scale separation of proteins to manufacture biopharmaceuticals such as insulin and monoclonal antibodies, is carried out using a series of steps including filtration and chromatography techniques. The rapid growth in the bioprocess market is driven by increasing production of the approximately 100 approved biopharmaceutical drugs and by the prospects for more than 400 in clinical trials.

Amersham Biosciences, the life sciences business of Amersham plc (LSE, NYSE, OSE: AHM), is a world leader in developing and providing integrated systems and solutions for disease research, drug development and manufacture. Our systems are used to uncover the function of genes and proteins, for the discovery and development of drugs and for the manufacture of biopharmaceuticals. The customers for Amersham Biosciences' products and technology are pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and research and academic institutions, principally in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. For more information about Amersham Biosciences or Amersham plc, please visit www.amershambiosciences.com or www.amersham.com.

Conference call

A conference call with Peter Ehrenheim, Executive Vice-President, Separations, will be held on Friday February 1, at 9.30am EST / 2.30pm GMT to discuss these acquisitions. Investors, analysts and journalists who would like to participate should dial [phone] (UK) or [phone] (US).

An audio replay of the call will be available for seven days and can be accessed by dialing [phone] (passcode: 374876) or [phone] (passcode: 1500887).