Chiron and Cities of Oakland and Emeryville create initiatives to expand life sciences in local communities.

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1995--Chiron Corp. (NASDAQ: CHIR) and the Cities of Oakland and Emeryville held a joint news conference today to announce a series of agreements which seek to foster and support expansion of biotechnology and life science companies in Oakland and Emeryville.

Also announced was a separate agreement between Chiron and the City of Oakland to form an Economic Development Partnership following the Oakland City Council's unanimous agreement to terms governing Chiron's expansion in Emeryville.

"In August, Chiron and Emeryville agreed to the terms governing the development of Chiron's Life Sciences Center, including providing funding mechanisms for significant environmental remediation and reconstruction of Emeryville infrastructure as the project is built out.

"Our Life Sciences Center agreements with Emeryville represent an exemplary approach to urban redevelopment," said Edward E. Penhoet, Ph.D., Chiron's president and chief executive officer. "They provide the economic engine for biotechnology in the East Bay as well as providing world class buildings and amenities to the communities."

Under the agreements announced today, the governments of both cities and their municipal staffs, together with Chiron will seek administrative and legislative approval to expand the existing Oakland Enterprise Zone to include the portion of Emeryville that will contain the Chiron Life Sciences Center, expected to be developed over the next 30 years. They also will seek to obtain and provide incentives for biotechnology and other life science businesses to locate and expand within the Enterprise Zone.

Under separate agreements with Oakland, Emeryville and Berkeley, Chiron also will provide funding for certain community projects and improvements. It will offer summer jobs and internship programs for students in all these cities. Chiron also will develop and fund specific educational initiatives designed to improve the science and particularly biotech programs in the public schools.

In the Oakland-Chiron agreement, the City and Chiron will jointly undertake a series of initiatives to attract other biotechnology companies to Oakland. As a first step, Chiron and the City of Oakland will sponsor jointly applications for siting biotech incubator facilities in Oakland. Together, they also will establish a joint Economic Development Committee whose mandate is to seek out other opportunities for mutually beneficial initiatives in Oakland to support biotechnology business.

John Russo, who led Oakland's negotiating team, said, "The unanimous vote of the Oakland City Council on the Chiron agreement marks a new era of regional cooperation and environmentally sound economic development in the East Bay."

"These agreements, together with our development agreement reached with Emeryville in August, represent a unique series of public-private partnerships to foster economic development, rebuild urban infrastructure and to bring other new bioscience business to Oakland and the East Bay," said Penhoet. "We look forward to partnering with both Oakland and Emeryville on projects that will foster the communities' economic growth and development by encouraging new vendors, suppliers and future collaborative companies to locate here."

Chiron Corporation is a diversified, science-driven healthcare company that combines diagnostic, vaccine and therapeutic strategies for managing 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; ophthalmic surgical products for the correction of vision. A fifth business, Chiron Technologies, manages programs in gene therapy and combinatorial chemistry.

CONTACT: Chiron Corporation

Kimberly Kraemer, 510/601-2412

or

Oakland City Council

Mona Lombard, 510/238-2193