Axys Pharmaceuticals Names Timothy McBride Vice President, Business Development.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 11, 2000

Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:AXPH) today named Timothy J. McBride as its new Vice President, Business Development. McBride joins Axys from Sharp Corporation of Conshohocken, Pa., where he was Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development.

At Sharp since 1997, McBride was responsible for all commercial activity at this privately held contract packaging and manufacturing company, which serves the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. While there, he implemented the commercial strategy and improved the company's commercial infrastructure, while leading all sales, marketing and business development programs. Prior to Sharp, McBride was at ALZA Corporation (NYSE:AZA) of Palo Alto, Calif., from 1992-1997, where his last position was Director, Commercial Development, with responsibility for negotiating global licensing, promotion and acquisition agreements with leading pharmaceutical companies. McBride joined ALZA in 1992 as one of the first commercial managers hired to build ALZA Pharmaceuticals, the sales and marketing arm of ALZA Corporation. While at ALZA, McBride helped build and lead the ALZA Pharmaceuticals sales organization when he served as Director of Sales. During his tenure at ALZA, McBride participated in the development of ALZA's commercial strategy and product portfolio. McBride previously worked at what is now AstraZeneca throughout the 1980s until 1992, holding key sales and marketing management positions.

According to John Walker, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, "McBride's wide-ranging experience in the sales and marketing side of the pharmaceutical business coupled with his successes in business development provide Axys with a unique perspective in both in-licensing and development of commercial infrastructure, which is clearly important to our forward integration strategy. As Axys advances products to the clinic, we will rely on Tim to lead our marketing efforts and execute upon product opportunities. We look forward to working with Tim in these endeavors."

McBride has a M.B.A. in Marketing from Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif., and a B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pa. He has completed advanced courses at the City of London Polytechnic and the University of California, Berkeley. His professional affiliations include the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy, the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering, the Licensing Executives Society, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association.

Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an integrated small molecule drug discovery and development company. Axys has a broad pipeline of products for chronic therapeutic applications that are partnered with world-class pharmaceutical companies and a proprietary product portfolio in oncology. Axys is also building shareholder value through affiliated businesses that leverage the Axys technologies in order to provide capital for Axys' drug discovery and development programs. In addition to a minority interest in Discovery Partners International (Nasdaq:DPII) resulting from the merger of its combinatorial chemistry business Axys Advanced Technologies with DPII and the subsequent IPO of DPII, Axys' technology leveraging businesses are: PPGx, a majority-owned pharmacogenomics company, and Akkadix Corporation, an agricultural biotechnology company.

Except for the historical information contained herein, this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties which could cause Axys' actual results to differ materially from those discussed here, including the risks inherent in early stage development and the reliance on the efforts of collaborative partners, the risk that Axys collaborations will not be successful, the risk that clinical trials will not proceed as anticipated or may not be successful, the risk that Axys will not be successful in entering into new collaborations, market risk associated with Axys' substantial ownership interest in Discovery Partners International, Inc., competition and marketing risk, and general economic conditions that may affect Axys' actual results and developments. Additional factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the sections entitled "What Factors Could Cause Our Results to Differ Significantly from Those You Might Expect?" and "What Other Matters Should Stockholders Consider with Respect to Axys?" in the Axys' SEC Reports, including Axys' report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999.

For more information about Axys Pharmaceuticals, Inc., please visit the company's Web site at http://www.axyspharm.com.