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22/04/2004

Antisoma Acquires Inverness' Royalty Rights To R1549 and R1550

London, UK, 22 April 2004: Antisoma plc (LSE: ASM), the biopharmaceutical company specialising in the development of novel anti-cancer drugs, today announces the acquisition of certain royalty rights from Inverness Medical Switzerland GmbH, a division of the US-based company Inverness Medical Innovations, Inc. These rights relate to any products based on the mouse and humanised variants of the antibody HMFG1, which form the basis of the drugs R1549 and R1550, respectively.

Under the agreement, Antisoma is making an immediate cash payment of $300,000 to Inverness. Antisoma will make further payments totalling $1,500,000 subject to R1549 reaching key milestones on the path to commercialisation. In return, Inverness has relinquished its right to receive any royalty payments from Antisoma for products based on HMFG1 antibodies. This will provide Antisoma with additional retained royalties comprising 2.66% of any future sales of R1549 and 1.5% of any future sales of R1550.

Both R1549 and R1550 are being co-developed by Antisoma and Roche. Roche has worldwide marketing rights to these drugs under an agreement between the companies signed in November 2002.

Commenting on the transaction, Glyn Edwards, CEO of Antisoma said, "We're pleased to have added to the share we will retain of any sales revenues from products based on our HMFG1 antibodies, notably R1549 and R1550.'

Enquiries:

Antisoma plc		+44 (0)20 8799 8200
Glyn Edwards, Chief Executive Officer
Financial Dynamics:		+44 (0)20 7831 3113
Julia Phillips / Ben Atwell

About Antisoma
Based in London, UK, Antisoma is a biopharmaceutical company that develops novel products for the treatment of cancer. Antisoma fills its development pipeline by acquiring promising new product candidates from internationally recognised academic or cancer research institutions. Its core activity is the pre-clinical and clinical development of these drug candidates. Antisoma forms partnerships with pharmaceutical companies to bring its products to market. In November 2002, Antisoma signed a ground-breaking collaboration agreement with Roche to develop and commercialise products from Antisoma's pipeline. For more information about Antisoma, visit the website at www.antisoma.com.

Disclaimer
Except for the historical information presented, certain matters discussed in this statement are forward looking statements that are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. These risks and uncertainties may be associated with product discovery and development, including statements regarding the company's clinical development programmes, the expected timing of clinical trials and regulatory filings. Such statements are based on management's current expectations, but actual results may differ materially.

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