Madison, WI (March 8, 2000) – Oxford Molecular (London Stock Exchange: OMG) today announced the appointment of Matteo di Tommaso as General Manager of Genetics Computer Group (GCG) for OMG’s bioinformatics unit. He succeeds Dr. John Devereux, who has recently retired. Devereux will continue to work with GCG, a pioneer company in the bioinformatics industry since 1982, as a consultant.

"John Devereux has been instrumental in building the bioinformatics industry, first as a pioneer starting GCG in 1982, before ‘bioinformatics’ was even a recognized discipline, and then building it into the successful enterprise it is today," commented Charles Nalbantian, President of the U.S. arm of Oxford Molecular Group. "Now with Matteo di Tommaso taking the reins, the company is firmly positioned on the leading edge of bioinformatics technology."

Supported by a solid management team, di Tommaso will oversee all operational aspects of the Madison, Wisconsin-based bioinformatics unit. All six members of the senior management team play key roles, with four having served at the company since its inception.

"John Devereux built GCG by focusing on customers, connecting with them, and building the tools they needed to work effectively," said di Tommaso. "His experience and understanding of the industry set a standard that will help us continue to provide high-quality software solutions to serve our customers and to grow as a company."

He added, "This is an exciting time to be working in the bioinformatics field. GCG is launching important new products, and pursuing new collaborations with a unified product line that serve our customers’ biocomputing and storage needs."

In his previous role at the Company, di Tommaso pioneered its ORACLE™-based bioinformatics data management system – SeqStore™ – used to store, retrieve, maintain and analyze genomic data. Before joining GCG, di Tommaso spent three years at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI) where he was head of database development. Prior to that, he worked developing scientific information systems that supported high-throughput screening, chemical inventory and biological assays for Warner-Lambert.

"Matteo has a clear vision of where the Company needs to go within the industry," said Devereux. "I have the utmost confidence in his ability along with the senior management team to both meet and exceed the needs of the research community."

GCG, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oxford Molecular Group, sets the industry standard in bioinformatics software and database tools for pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology enterprises, as well as government, hospital and academic institutions that employ nucleic acid and protein sequence analysis in their drug discovery research. Among its product portfolio is the enterprise-wide solution for DNA and protein sequence analysis, the GCG Wisconsin Package™, as well as SeqStore™, the relational data warehouse, tracking, and automated analysis system. For more information, visit www.gcg.com.