Vernalis plc: Board changes
20th May 2004. Vernalis plc (LSE:VER, NASDAQ: VNLS) today announces the appointment of Dr Allan Baxter (54) (Senior Vice President, Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline) as a Non-Executive Director. Dr Baxter is responsible for GSK’s world-wide drug discovery effort, including the clinical development of new product candidates through to proof-of-concept studies.

Peter Fellner, Chairman of Vernalis, commented “We are delighted that Dr Baxter is joining us. His outstanding track record and exceptional experience in state-of-the-art discovery and development of novel drugs, will be very valuable to Vernalis as it advances its own innovative R&D programmes and pipeline”.

Three current Non-Executive Directors plan to retire during this year. Ian Kent who was Chairman of RiboTargets Holdings, and was then appointed as a Director of Vernalis, will retire at the forthcoming AGM, in June. Eugene Williams who has served since 2001 as a Director of British Biotech, now Vernalis, will also retire at the forthcoming AGM. Keith Merrifield, who was appointed in 1995 as a Director of British Biotech, now Vernalis, plans to retire at the end of this year, having served for a total of nine years. The Board wishes to thank all of them for their very important contributions to Vernalis during its evolution and development.

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Enquiries:

Vernalis plc                +44 (0)118 977 3133

Simon Sturge, Chief Executive Officer

Tony Weir, Chief Financial Officer

Brunswick Group     (for analyst, financial media enquiries) +44 (0)20 7404 5959

Jon Coles; Wendel Carson

About Vernalis

Vernalis was established in September 2003 following the merger of British Biotech plc and Vernalis Group plc. Operating from state-of-the-art R&D facilities at its headquarters in Reading (UK) and in Cambridge (UK), the company is equipped to undertake the full development of compounds from discovery through to product registration. Its first approved product – frovatriptan – is marketed in the US and Europe, and is backed by an innovative research and development portfolio. Vernalis’ current market capitalisation is approximately £75 million, and it is pursuing a growth strategy based upon successful pipeline development and further consolidation within the biotechnology sector.