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Medarex and Northwest Biotherapeutics Announce Alliance To Develop New Cancer Therapies

    PRINCETON, N.J. and BOTHELL, Wash., April 25 /PRNewswire/ --
Medarex, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDX) and Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NWBio), a
privately held company, announced today the formation of a strategic alliance
in which Medarex expects to generate fully human antibody therapeutics for
multiple cancers.  Previous collaborative work by the partners has generated
fully human monoclonal antibodies to one of the alliance's initial targets, an
antigen associated with prostate cancer.  Results of this development effort
will be presented today by Dr. Eric Holmes, NWBio's Director of Biomedical
R&D, at the 43rd Annual American Cancer Society's Science Writer's Seminar in
Dana Point, California.

    NWBio intends to initially contribute four of its existing cancer related
targets, and over the next several years, NWBio will contribute
four additional, yet to be determined, cancer targets to the alliance's fully
human antibody-based product development efforts.  The two companies plan to
share pre-clinical and clinical development costs and have the right to
jointly commercialize any resulting products.  In addition, Medarex is
purchasing $4.0 million of NWBio's Preferred Stock.  Medarex has also agreed
to purchase $3.5 million of NWBio's Common Stock in the event NWBio completes
an initial public offering during the next year and satisfies certain
additional conditions.

    "Our collaboration with NWBio provides another opportunity to develop
fully human antibody therapeutics that may be useful in the treatment of a
variety of cancers," said Donald L. Drakeman, President and CEO of Medarex.

    "We are very pleased to establish this relationship with Medarex to
develop new cancer therapies based on NWBio's expanding library of proprietary
cancer specific targets," stated Daniel O. Wilds, President and Chief
Executive Officer of NWBio.  "We believe Medarex to be the ideal partner to
rapidly co-develop antibody-based therapies with the potential to have a
positive impact on the 1.2 million new cases of cancer being diagnosed each
year in the U.S."

    Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. is a privately held company founded in
1996 to develop and commercialize products and services to improve care for
cancer patients.  In addition to developing fully human antibody-based cancer
treatments with Medarex, NWBio is applying its proprietary dendritic
cell-based immunotherapy platform, DCVax(TM), to safely use a patient's own
immune system to fight cancer.  NWBio's first product, DCVax - Prostate, is
currently in clinical evaluation at M.D. Anderson, Houston and U.C.L.A. as a
treatment for late-stage prostate cancer patients with no other treatment
options.  For more information about Northwest Biotherapeutics, visit its
website at http://www.nwbio.com .

    Medarex, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing monoclonal
antibody-based therapeutics to fight cancer and other life-threatening and
debilitating diseases.  Medarex has assembled a broad platform of patented
technologies for antibody discovery and development, including the UltiMab(TM)
Human Antibody Development System(SM) for the creation of high-affinity, fully
human antibodies; T-12 Development(SM) offering the potential to move from
target to trial in approximately 12 months; and Trans-Phage Technology(SM)
combining high throughput screening with fully human antibody development.
Medarex creates and develops fully human antibodies for itself and others,
offering a full range of antibody related capabilities, including pre-clinical
and clinical development supported by cGMP manufacturing services.  For more
information about Medarex, visit its website at http://www.medarex.com .

    For Medarex:  Except for the historical information presented herein,
matters discussed in this press release are forward-looking statements that
are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such statements.  Medarex disclaims, however, any
intent or obligations to update these forward-looking statements.  Statements
that are not historical facts, including statements preceded by, followed by,
or that include the words "believes"; "anticipates"; "intends"; "plans";
"expects"; "estimates"; or similar statements are forward-looking statements.
Risks and uncertainties include risks associated with product discovery and
development as well as risks detailed from time to time in Medarex's public
disclosure filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
December 31, 2000 and subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.  Copies of
Medarex's public disclosure filings are available from its investor relations
department.  There can be no assurance that such development efforts will
succeed, that such products will receive required regulatory clearance or
that, even if such regulatory clearance were received, such products would
ultimately achieve commercial success.

    UltiMAb(TM) is a trademark of Medarex, Inc.  Human Antibody Development
System(SM), T-12 Development(SM) and Trans-Phage Technology(SM) are service
marks of Medarex, Inc.

    DCVax(TM) is a trademark of Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc.

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SOURCE  Medarex, Inc.
Web site:  http: //www.nwbio.com http://www.medarex.com
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