Chiron Behring Forms Marketing Agreement For Germany With North American Vaccine.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 1996--Chiron Vaccines, a business unit of Chiron Corporation (NASDAQ:CHIR), announced today an agreement under which Chiron Behring GmbH & Co. will market North American Vaccine's (AMEX:NVX) diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough vaccine (DTaP).

Chiron Behring also will market North American Vaccine's combination DTaP-Polio vaccine, which combines the DTaP with an inactivated polio vaccine. Under terms of the agreement, Chiron Behring will market the products in Germany and Austria following appropriate regulatory approvals, for a period of four years. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"This agreement will fill a short-term strategic need that we have in Germany," said Dino Dina M.D., president of Chiron Vaccines. "We are pursuing licensure of Pertugen(TM), the diphtheria, tetanus and genetically engineered acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP), in all European countries very aggressively and expect to be on the market within the next two years."

Chiron Vaccines has applied for marketing approval of Pertugen in the U.S., and is currently preparing its European filing. Biocine S.p.A., a subsidiary of Chiron Vaccines, currently markets a DTaP vaccine under the tradename Acelluvax DTP(TM) in Italy.

Chiron Behring is a joint venture between Behringwerke AG and Chiron Corporation engaged in research, development and production of human vaccines. It is a market leader for human vaccines in Germany. Chiron Vaccines, with operations in Emeryville, Calif., and Siena, Italy, manufactures and markets in Italy and other countries a broad range of pediatric and adult vaccines and is a leader in researching and developing novel and improved vaccines.

Chiron Corporation is a science-driven healthcare company that combines diagnostic, vaccine and therapeutic strategies for controlling disease. Chiron participates in four global healthcare markets: diagnostics, including immunodiagnostics, critical care diagnostics and new quantitative probe tests; therapeutics, with an emphasis on oncology and infectious disease; pediatric and adult vaccines; and ophthalmic surgical products for the correction of vision. Chiron also has research programs underway in gene therapy, combinatorial chemistry, cancer, infectious and cardiovascular disease and critical care through its Chiron Technologies business unit.

This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to future events at Chiron. Actual events may differ materially from our expectations. We refer the reader to documents that Chiron files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the section, "Factors That May Affect Future Operating Results" from the company's most-recent Form 10-Q report, for a further discussion of important factors that could cause actual performance to differ from our current expectations and the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

CONTACT: Chiron

Larry Kurtz, 510/923-2476