Large Scale Biology Corporation Announces Biomanufacturing and Commercial Distribution Agreement with Sigma-Aldrich Corporation.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

VACAVILLE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2004

Large Scale Biology Corporation (Nasdaq:LSBC) today announced that it has entered into a biomanufacturing and commercial distribution agreement with Sigma-Aldrich Fine Chemicals, a division of Sigma-Aldrich Inc. (Nasdaq:SIAL) of St. Louis, Missouri, for LSBC's plant-produced recombinant aprotinin product (APRONEXIN(TM) NP) for R&D and manufacturing applications.

Aprotinin is a protease inhibitor commercially marketed for medical, research and biomanufacturing applications. Unlike LSBC's APRONEXIN(TM) NP, aprotinins on the market today are derived by extraction from bovine lungs. Supply constraints and the continuing concern over pathogen contamination of animal-derived products create a potential need for safe, abundantly produced aprotinin.

Under the multi-year supply agreement, LSBC will manufacture recombinant aprotinin using its proprietary GENEWARE(R) gene expression system. GENEWARE(R) technology is unique in its use of harmless plant-viruses to express proteins such as aprotinin in non-transgenic, non-food/feed plants of the tobacco family. Plant-produced aprotinin will be grown and processed at LSBC's state-of-the art biomanufacturing facility in Owensboro, Kentucky. Sigma-Aldrich will commercially distribute LSBC's recombinant product to its wide base of customers in the R&D, cell culture and manufacturing markets. Additional terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

In January LSBC announced that it was shipping trial quantities of its APRONEXIN(TM) NP product for evaluation by prospective customers and distributors. The Company is on track to begin sales of its research-grade aprotinin by mid-year. "Our new relationship with Sigma-Aldrich is one of several in development and underscores our commitment to commercialize our products by partnering with recognized leaders in life science marketing and sales," stated Kevin Ryan, LSBC's President and CEO. "Revenues derived from these commercial alliances will help accelerate development and commercialization of our rich pipeline of products for pharmaceutical, animal health and industrial markets," Mr. Ryan added.

While LSBC was founded on the bases of novel gene expression and protein analysis and production platforms, since the spring of 2003 LSBC's business model has been aggressively focused on development and commercialization of products. Key to the Company's strategy is the formation of alliances with class-leading collaborators to accelerate commercialization of proprietary and partnered molecules. "We expect the partnering model for commercial distribution to provide the near-term leverage to get our products to end-users and to generate the most value for LSBC. Our new alliance with Sigma-Aldrich is the first of several we expect to announce in 2004," Mr. Ryan concluded.

For additional information on LSBC's recombinant aprotinin product and other products in development, please contact:

        Daniel Tuse, Ph.D.
        Vice President
        Business Development
        Tel [phone]
        Fax [phone]
        Email: [e-mail]

About Large Scale Biology Corporation

Large Scale Biology uses its proprietary gene expression, molecular engineering and bioprocessing technologies to develop and manufacture therapeutic and industrial proteins, vaccines and diagnostic products for effective characterization and treatment of disease. Corporate offices, R&D laboratories and Eclipse Diagnostics Inc. are headquartered in Vacaville, California, and the Company's commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility is located in Owensboro, Kentucky. For more information about Large Scale Biology Corporation, visit the Company's website at www.lsbc.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements about an application of LSBC's technologies and potential markets for one of our products. These forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and situations that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those implied by these statements, including our ability to commercialize one of our products, the ability of our collaborators to sell products we make for them, the effectiveness of our and our collaborators' technologies to produce specific products and/or in a cost-effective manner, any difficulties or delays in obtaining regulatory approval to test and market such products, and the requirement of substantial funding for us to preserve our technology base and product pipeline. We cannot guarantee future results. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this release. For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties see the reports filed by Large Scale Biology Corporation with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. Except as required by law, we do not undertake to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

LSBC(TM), our logo, GENEWARE(R) and APRONEXIN(TM) NP are trademarks of Large Scale Biology Corporation.