Paris, France (November 05, 2002) - AUREUS PHARMA, a leading knowledge managementbased drug discovery company and a solution provider for the life sciences industry, today announces that it has entered into an agreement with Aventis giving access to its chemical biology database on G Protein-Coupled Receptors (GPCRs). This database gives subscribers access to information on all major GPCRs already described, allowing to identify, validate and prioritize in parallel new targets and ligands for drug discovery. GPCRs are promising targets for new drug discovery as well as for a large number of drugs used today. Aventis researchers will be able to exploit all GPCR-related information from a single, integrated knowledge-management-based platform. The integrated database will facilitate collaboration between Aventis research teams operating out of separate locations in the U.S., Germany and France, as well as scientists from various disciplines. "We integrated data: linking GPCRs targets, chemical compounds and pharmacological experiments. This database includes 85% of the current knowledge on these targets and is one of the unique tools we developed for molecular biologists, pharmacologists and chemists, helping them to prioritize the targets and the most promising ligands. Thanks to our Knowledge management-based system, perspectives for AUREUS are to enable modern chemical biology strategies to discover safer, more specific and innovative drugs" said Dr. André Michel, President of AUREUS PHARMA.

About Aventis

Aventis is dedicated to improving life by treating and preventing human disease through the discovery and development of innovative prescription drugs for important therapeutic areas as well as human vaccines. In 2001, Aventis generated sales of € 17.7 billion, invested € 3 billion in research and development and employed approximately 75,000 people in its core business. Aventis corporate headquarters are in Strasbourg, France. For more information, please visit: www.aventis.com

About AUREUS-PHARMA

AUREUS PHARMA, headquartered in Paris, France, is a privately held leading knowledge management-based drug discovery company and a solution provider for the life sciences industry founded in 2000. AUREUS PHARMA proposes a novel solution thanks to an integrated set of technologies, allying computerized knowledge management systems with experimental methods in order to accelerate new drug discovery. This mission fits with the need to innovate in therapeutic target identification and to discover safer and more specific drugs. Visit the company's Web site: www.aureus-pharma.com .