CHIR Chiron (MM)

The Chiron Foundation, a nonprofit philanthropic organization funded by Chiron Corporation (NASDAQ:CHIR), announced today that it has awarded a total of $90,000 to four organizations whose programs are accelerating the discovery of novel therapies and furthering the use of science and technology in healthcare. The recipients are the American Society of Transplantation, the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, the Myelin Repair Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences. "The work of these organizations contributes to the advancement of public health policies affecting healthcare around the world," said Jay Grover, president of the Chiron Foundation. "These grants support health policy initiatives that include educational outreach to government policy makers as well as healthcare practitioners. By supporting the efforts of these exceptional organizations, we extend our dedication to improving the quality of human life." The Chiron Foundation's grant to the American Society of Transplantation (AST), located in Mt. Laurel, NJ, will support an important initiative to identify and describe disparities in access to transplant healthcare services and in quality-of-life outcomes associated with solid-organ transplants in minority populations. The initiative will suggest actions that would address these issues and could lead to improved access and outcomes. The AST, an organization of more than 2,200 transplant professionals, aims to offer a forum for the exchange of knowledge, scientific information and expertise in the field of transplantation. The Chiron Foundation's grant to the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics (APUA), a nonprofit organization located in Boston, will support the expanded dissemination of the 2005 GAARD (Global Advisory on Antibiotic Resistance Data) Report, a landmark report concerning global drug-resistance threats in the treatment of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, diarrheal diseases and gonorrhea. The grant will see that the report reaches key medical professionals and public health policy makers, including several hundred targeted Congressional members. The APUA, founded in 1981, is the world's leading organization dedicated to improving antimicrobial treatment and containing antimicrobial resistance throughout the world. The GAARD report comes from public/private collaboration among the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pharmaceutical companies to collect and integrate antimicrobial resistance data for special studies designed to inform public policy. The Chiron Foundation's grant to the Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF), a nonprofit research foundation located in Saratoga, Calif., will support the organization's collaborative research initiative to find myelin repair treatments for people afflicted with multiple sclerosis (MS). MRF is a consortium of scientific and business professionals that was created to develop and demonstrate a new model for bringing effective new treatments for neurological diseases to market more quickly through a coordinated, interdisciplinary, outcome-based approach to basic research. Through its strategically defined process for collaboration, the MRF aims to substantially shorten the time to translate basic academic research discoveries on the mechanisms for myelin repair into improved clinical outcomes for people with MS. The Chiron Foundation's grant to the National Academy of Sciences, a private, nonprofit society of distinguished scholars, located in Washington, D.C., will support the academy's review of intellectual property policy concerning patenting and licensing genomic and protein research. In particular, the grant will fund the development of a survey to gather information from users and generators of such intellectual property, from which the Academy will promulgate guidelines intended to maximize the productivity of genomic and protein research and the application of their results to the practice of medicine. The academy, in its role as adviser to the nation on science, technology and health, engages experts from industry, law and academia to exchange views on health policy issues and contribute to better public policies and practices. The organization is dedicated to the furtherance of science and technology and to their use for the general welfare. About the Chiron Foundation Established in 2004, the Chiron Foundation is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to improving lives through better healthcare, empowering lives through better education and enriching lives through better communities. The foundation awards grants in three major focus areas: health and medicine, education, and community. For further information about the Chiron Foundation, please visit www.chiron.com/foundation. About Chiron Chiron delivers innovative and valuable products to protect human health by advancing pioneering science across the landscape of biotechnology. The company works to deliver on the limitless promise of science and make a positive difference in people's lives. For more information about Chiron, please visit www.chiron.com. This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change. A full discussion of the company's operations and financial condition, including factors that may affect its business and future prospects, is contained in documents the company has filed with the SEC, including the form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, and will be contained in all subsequent periodic filings made with the SEC. We do not undertake an obligation to update the forward-looking information we are giving today.