Cyclacel Raises £5.3 Million in New Funding

DUNDEE - 10 May 1999 - Cyclacel Limited, the UK-based cancer therapeutics company founded by Professor David Lane, today announced the completion of its second round private financing raising £5.3 million.

Spiro Rombotis, Cyclacel's Chief Executive, commented: "We are pleased to have completed this financing during what is a difficult investment climate for the biotech community. This investment endorses the strength of Cyclacel's science and technology base. We can now concentrate our undivided attention on advancing our research and development programmes in cancer therapeutics, focusing on our exciting work with CDK inhibitor drugs and Penetratin-drug complexes."

The new capital was raised from a combination of several new institutional and venture capital investors and existing shareholders. New investors included Dresdner Kleinwort Benson Limited, The Equitable Life Assurance Society, Merifin Capital NV, Northern Venture Trust PLC and Scottish Equity Partnership. Existing shareholders following on included the Merlin Fund and Cancer Research Campaign Technology Limited. In addition the University of Dundee and the University of Glasgow were granted 30-day options to increase their respective shareholdings. If these options are exercised, the total amount raised will increase to £5.5 million.

The completion of this round raises the value of Cyclacel to approximately £13 million. Cyclacel's first round was in mid-1997 when the Merlin Fund, the dedicated bioscience fund established by a group of institutional investors in 1997, invested £2.5 million.