Alliance formed to develop fully human antibody therapeutics

Vancouver, BC and Princeton, NJ — January 21, 2003 — Medarex, Inc. (Nasdaq: MEDX) and Ability Biomedical Corporation, a privately held Canadian biotechnology company, recently announced a collaboration for the development of fully human antibody therapeutics to inflammation and autoimmune diseases.

Under the agreement, the two companies expect to share equally the cost and responsibility of the development of antibody products. In addition, the two companies plan to commercialize jointly any antibody products resulting from this collaboration.

“We believe that joining with Medarex, a leader in fully human antibody therapeutic development, represents a significant commercial validation of our strong science and intellectual property and is in line with our corporate strategy,” says Hans S. Keirstead, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Ability Biomedical.

“This collaboration gives us the opportunity to work with Ability Biomedical’s talented scientific team to potentially develop fully human antibody therapeutics,” says Donald L. Drakeman, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Medarex.