SCIOS LICENSES NATRECOR TO GLAXOSMITHKLINE FOR EUROPE.

GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) and Scios Inc. (Nasdaq: SCIO), Sunnyvale, Calif., have entered into an agreement in which Scios will license Natrecor (nesiritide), a treatment for acute heart failure, to GSK in all European markets.

Under the terms of the agreement, GSK will have the rights to sell and distribute the product for which Scios will receive an up-front fee and milestone payments over four years, in addition to future royalties on European sales. Scios will manufacture and supply the bulk product to GSK. Both companies will work together to continue clinical development of Natrecor in Europe.

In order to obtain European approval for Natrecor, GSK expects to use the extensive clinical data Scios submitted to obtain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August 2001. The companies expect to launch Natrecor in Europe in the first half of 2004.

Commenting on the agreement, Christopher Viehbacher, President, Pharmaceuticals Europe, GlaxoSmithKline said: "Natrecor adds another important product to our cardiovascular pipeline and complements our existing products, in cardiovascular and emergency medicine in Europe. This agreement is indicative of our intention to become the partner of choice for those companies wishing to maximize the commercial potential of their products and increase their global presence."

Richard B. Brewer, Scios' president and chief executive officer, added that "Natrecor will offer physicians in Europe a new alternative for treating acute heart failure, just as it has in the United States. We are excited about the collaboration with GSK, one of the world's pharmaceutical leaders, to further enhance Natrecor's potential value in treating this disease and realizing its blockbuster potential."

Natrecor is the first of a new drug class and is a recombinant form of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), a hormone secreted by the heart in response to heart failure. Scios launched Natrecor in the United States in August 2001, making it the first new drug available for acute heart failure patients in over a decade. In Europe approximately one million patients are admitted to hospital with a primary diagnosis of acute congestive heart failure each year.

GlaxoSmithKline

GlaxoSmithKline -- one of the world's leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies -- is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.

Scios Inc.

Scios is a biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for cardiovascular and inflammatory disease. The Company's disease-based technology platform integrates expertise in protein biology with computational and medicinal chemistry to identify novel targets and rationally design small molecule compounds for large markets with unmet medical needs.

For more information, call 650-619-4038 or visit http://www.sciosinc.com