Re Agreement

Cambridge Antibody Tech Group PLC
19 January 2004


04/CAT/02


EMBARGOED UNTIL


06.30 GMT, 01:30 EST Tuesday 20 January 2004


For further information contact:



Cambridge Antibody Technology                            Weber Shandwick Square Mile (Europe)
Tel: [phone]                                Tel: [phone]
Peter Chambre, Chief Executive Officer                   Kevin Smith
John Aston, Chief Financial Officer                      Rachel Lankester
Rowena Gardner, Director of Corporate Communications     

                                                         BMC Communications/The Trout Group (USA)
                                                         Tel: [phone]
                                                         Brad Miles, ext 17 (media)
                                                         Brandon Lewis, ext 15 (investors)

Lonza Group
Walter Eschenmoser, Communications & Investor
Relations, Tel: [phone]



CAMBRIDGE ANTIBODY TECHNOLOGY AND LONZA EXTEND MANUFACTURING AGREEMENT

Cambridge, UK, and Basel, Switzerland... Cambridge Antibody Technology (LSE:
CAT; NASDAQ: CATG) and Lonza Group Limited (SWX: LONN) today announce the
extension of their November 2001 agreement, confirming that Lonza Biologics will
manufacture and supply clinical grade antibody drugs to CAT through to the end
of 2006.

The agreement, which is effective immediately, will guarantee that CAT and its
collaborators have access to Lonza's manufacturing capability at production
scale (up to 2,000L) for both ongoing programmes and future projects.

Peter Chambre, CAT's CEO, commented "We are pleased with the success of our on-
going relationship with Lonza and with the access to world class manufacturing
facilities this offers CAT and our collaborators. This extension enables us to
plan further ahead with confidence and certainty of access to world-class
manufacturing facilities on a longer-term basis. Over the past six years, we
have developed leading skills in process optimisation for therapeutic antibodies
and have built a strong relationship with Lonza to develop and refine efficient
manufacturing processes to be used at production scale. For CAT, this is a very
cost-effective way of ensuring timely supply of our therapeutic antibodies for
our programmes and increasing the breadth of  capabilities we can offer to
collaborators."

Markus Gemuend, CEO of Lonza, commented: "The extension of our agreement with
CAT is a demonstration of the confidence both parties developed over the recent
years in each other's capabilities. We are pleased to continue to align
ourselves with a leader in antibody development and to support CAT through the
next phases of their clinical programmes both for existing products and for new
products in their pipeline."


ENDS



Notes to Editors



Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT):

•   CAT is a UK-based biotechnology company using its proprietary technologies 
    and capabilities in human monoclonal antibodies for drug discovery and drug 
    development. Based near Cambridge, England, CAT currently employs around 
    280 people.

•   CAT is a leader in the discovery and development of human therapeutic 
    antibodies and has an advanced proprietary platform technology for rapidly 
    isolating human monoclonal antibodies using phage display and ribosome 
    display systems. CAT has extensive phage antibody libraries, currently
    incorporating more than 100 billion distinct antibodies. These libraries 
    form the basis for the Company's strategy to develop a portfolio of 
    antibody-based drugs.

•   Three CAT human therapeutic antibody products are now in clinical 
    development, with two further product candidates in pre-clinical 
    development.

•   HUMIRATM, the leading CAT-derived antibody, isolated and optimised in 
    collaboration with Abbott has been approved by the US Food and Drug 
    Administration for marketing in the US and by the European Commission for 
    marketing in the EU as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis.

•   Five further licensed CAT-derived human therapeutic antibodies in clinical 
    development, with three further licensed product candidates in pre-clinical 
    development.

•   CAT has alliances with a number of pharmaceutical and biotechnology 
    companies to discover, develop and commercialise human monoclonal 
    antibody-based products. CAT has co-development programmes with Amrad, 
    Elan and Genzyme.

•   CAT has also licensed its proprietary technologies to several companies. 
    CAT's licensees include: Abbott, Amgen, Chugai, Human Genome Sciences, 
    Merck & Co, Pfizer and Wyeth Research.

•   CAT is listed on the London Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ since June 2001. 
    CAT raised £41m in its IPO in March 1997 and £93m in a secondary offering in 
    March 2000.

•   CAT and Lonza Biologics announced their earlier long term agreement for the 
    manufacture and supply of clinical grade antibodies on 26 November 2001.


Lonza Custom Manufacturing:

•   Lonza Custom Manufacturing comprises the development and production of small 
    molecules by chemical synthesis and biotransformation as well as large 
    molecules (biopharmaceuticals) by microbial fermentation and mammalian cell 
    culture technology.

•   At Lonza, customer needs have top priority. Lonza Custom Manufacturing 
    provides a broad spectrum of development and manufacturing services in 
    support of each of these technologies, created through close interactive 
    partnerships with its customers. Full quality and regulatory support is
    available for manufacture of clinical and marketed products, founded on 
    highly qualified scientists, know-how and extensive expertise in successful 
    scale-up from lab to commercial production.



Lonza:

•   Lonza is a Life Sciences driven company headquartered in Switzerland. It is 
    one of the leading custom manufacturers of active chemical ingredients, 
    intermediates and biotechnology services to the pharmaceutical and 
    agrochemical industries.

•   In addition, Lonza also offers organic intermediates for a wide range of 
    applications and provides antimicrobial and associated products as well as 
    polymer intermediates and compounds.

•   For more information please visit the company's website at www.lonza.com.


Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: This press release contains statements about Cambridge Antibody
Technology Group plc ("CAT") that are forward looking statements. All statements
other than statements of historical facts included in this press release may be
forward looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934. These forward looking statements are based on numerous
assumptions regarding the company's present and future business strategies and
the environment in which the company will operate in the future. Certain factors
that could cause the company's actual results, performance or achievements to
differ materially from those in the forward looking statements include: market
conditions, CAT's ability to enter into and maintain collaborative arrangements,
success of product candidates in clinical trials, regulatory developments and
competition. We caution investors not to place undue reliance on the forward
looking statements contained in this press release. These statements speak only
as of the date of this press release, and we undertake no obligation to update
or revise the statements.






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