Evolutec and Merial Renew Option Agreement

16/03/2007

For immediate release
16 March 2007

Evolutec Group plc

(“Evolutec” or “Company”)

Evolutec and Merial Renew Option Agreement

Evolutec Group plc (AIM: EVC), the biopharmaceutical company developing novel products for the treatment of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, announces that Merial Limited, a world-leading, innovation-driven animal health company, has signed a new option agreement covering the animal health uses of Evolutec’s vaccine technology.

This new option agreement allows Merial time to complete studies commenced in 2006. Its also builds on the positive result announced in 2005 in which Merial demonstrated that Evolutec’s vaccine technology significantly reduced the level of Boophilus tick infestation in cattle, a cause of major productivity losses due to disease transmission, hide (skin) damage and anaemia.

The agreement grants Merial a 12 month option to acquire exclusive worldwide rights to Evolutec’s vaccine technology for animal health uses in return for licensing and milestone fees and a royalty on sales. Detailed financial terms were not disclosed.

Merial’s development programme will evaluate Evolutec’s technology in the area of vaccines against important tick-borne diseases in production and companion animals and anti-tick vaccines. Any future development work will be undertaken at Merial’s expense.

ENDS

Enquiries:

Evolutec: 0118 922 4480
Mark Carnegie Brown, Chief Executive Officer
Nicholas Badman, Chief Financial Officer
www.evolutec.co.uk

Numis: 020 7776 1500
Michael Meade

Financial Dynamics: 020 7831 3113
David Yates
Ben Brewerton

Notes for Editors:

About Evolutec

Evolutec, which is based in Reading, UK, is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company with a focus on allergy, inflammation and auto-immune diseases.

rEV576, the Company’s lead product development candidate is a complement inhibitor which has demonstrated preclinical activity against the autoimmune diseases myasthenia gravis and Guillain-Barré Syndrome, asthma and acute myocardial infarction (“AMI”) (heart attack). Evolutec has established a research collaboration with Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, to undertake further preclinical work with rEV576 in myasthenia gravis.

Evolutec is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange and develops therapeutics originally isolated from the saliva of ticks. The tick remains undetected by its hosts, including humans, by injecting an array of molecules into the skin that suppresses host immunity. These stealth molecules have undergone millions of years of natural evolution to select a promising efficacy, potency and safety profile. Evolutec employs the tick's evolutionary stealth technology to offer the potential of treating human diseases.