CuraGen Promotes McKenna and Hawkins to Vice President; Also Announces Hiring of Key Managers Xixis and Lichenstein.

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 17, 1998--CuraGen Corporation (NASDAQ:CRGN) today announced the promotion of two Vice Presidents and the hiring of two key managers.

Dr. Michael P. McKenna has been promoted to the newly created position of Vice President of Operations. Dr. McKenna brings to the position more than 12 years of experience in high throughput biochemical processes. When he joined CuraGen in 1994, Dr. McKenna was instrumental in establishing the Company's first production line process for disease-gene discovery, known as GeneCalling(R). Most recently, Dr. McKenna was Director of CuraGen's Genomics Facility in New Haven, CT. Prior to working at CuraGen, Dr. McKenna did his post-doctoral research at Bayer Pharmaceuticals and received his Ph.D. from Yale University.

Commenting on the unique perspective Dr. McKenna brings to CuraGen, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg, CuraGen's Chairman, President and CEO, said, "Mike is the only molecular biologist who worked to get genes out of antennae of fruit flies that has also worked on a Mercedes-Benz assembly line. Mike has brought high throughput, production scale processes to genomics."

Dr. Trevor L. Hawkins has been promoted to the newly created position of Vice President of Genomics. Dr. Hawkins has more than 8 years of experience in high throughput genomics and production automation. Prior to his promotion, Dr. Hawkins was Director of CuraGen's newest Genomics Facility in Alachua, FL and served as Director of the Company's Advanced Technology division. Dr. Hawkins joined the Company full time in November 1997, after serving on the Scientific Advisory Board since 1995. Before joining CuraGen, Dr. Hawkins was Director of the Genome Sequencing Project at the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genomic Research and a Research Assistant Professor at the Whitehead Institute.

In their new roles at CuraGen, Drs. McKenna and Hawkins will have responsibility for all facility and laboratory operations, including advanced technologies, across the Company's three sites. "We are extremely pleased to announce the promotion of Drs. McKenna and Hawkins to Vice President", said Rothberg. "Their experience in technology-driven biology is world class and strengthens our leadership position in production scale genomics research and drug development."

George A. Xixis, Esq. has joined CuraGen as its Intellectual Property Counsel. Mr. Xixis will be heading up CuraGen's Intellectual Property Department and will help accelerate the patenting of genes, therapeutic proteins, and biological pathways discovered through the Company's research processes. Mr. Xixis most recently was an attorney in the litigation department of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Handler, LLP, where he counselled a variety of biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients.

Dr. Henri Lichenstein is joining CuraGen as Director of Product Development. Dr. Lichenstein spent the last eleven years with Amgen, most recently as Project Leader of the Endothelial Cell/Macrophage Activation team. His responsibilities at Amgen included the identification of critical targets in the TNF biosynthetic pathway and the development of orally active, small molecule inhibitors of TNF. Dr. Lichenstein is an author of 28 publications and has 8 patent applications. At CuraGen, Dr. Lichenstein will be responsible for the development of CuraGen's internal therapeutics product portfolio through the preclinical phase.

"Mr. Xixis and Dr. Lichenstein bring to CuraGen added management depth and their hiring is strategically important", said Gregory T. Went, Executive Vice President at CuraGen. "George Xixis will insure CuraGen adequately protects the increasing volume of intellectual property produced from our research processes. And, Henri Lichenstein will rapidly advance CuraGen's own product development efforts, leveraging off the Company's pharmacogenomics program to accelerate drug development."

CuraGen Corporation is revolutionizing the discovery and development of life science products through the systematic application of genomics. CuraGen's fully-integrated and proprietary genomics processes are designed to rapidly generate comprehensive information about gene expression (GeneCalling(R)), biological pathways (PathCalling(TM)), potential drugs (HitCalling(TM)) and drug response (Pharmacogenomics). Access to CuraGen's laboratory and proprietary databases is provided over the Internet by the GeneScape(R) bioinformatics system. The Company is also engaged in its own internal drug discovery programs in CNS, diabetes, autoimmune disorders, cancer, infectious diseases and cardiovascular diseases.

CuraGen's collaborative partners include ArQule, Biogen, Genentech, Pioneer Hi-Bred and Dupont. CuraGen is headquartered in New Haven, CT, with additional facilities in Branford, CT, and greater Gainesville, FL. The Company employs over 230 people, 80 of which hold advanced degrees.

    CONTACT: CuraGen Corporation
              David M. Wurzer
              Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
              1-888-GENOMICS
              Email: [e-mail]