Kosan Names Daniel T. Chu As Vice President of Discovery Research

Business Wire, June 3, 1998

BURLINGAME, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 1998--Kosan Biosciences, Inc., announced today the appointment of Daniel T. Chu, Ph.D., as Vice President of Discovery Research.

Prior to joining Kosan, Dr. Chu spent 26 years with Abbott Laboratories holding positions of increasing scientific and managerial responsibility. Chu is a well known medicinal chemist with particular expertise in antibiotics and natural products. Most recently, Daniel Chu was Director of Antibacterial Research and Distinguished Research Fellow at Abbott and was responsible for the research of 50 scientists engaged in antibacterial discovery. Chu has been the invited speaker at numerous conferences and symposiums and has co-authored over 100 scientific articles and participated in over 150 patent filings. In addition, he has been involved in bringing six chemical entities into clinical development.

"We are fortunate to have a scientist of Daniel Chu's caliber join Kosan," said Daniel V. Santi, Co-founder and Chairman. "He has extensive experience in research management and in translating new concepts into promising therapeutic agents. Dan has an outstanding reputation as a innovative and productive medicinal chemist with an understanding of multiple important disease areas."

Kosan is a privately held biotechnology company focused on the generation of novel organic compounds through genetic engineering of biosynthetic pathways. The Company uses combinatorial biosynthesis to create libraries of novel analogs of polyketides, a class of natural products that includes numerous molecules of major therapeutic importance.

   CONTACT:  Kosan Biosciences, Inc.
              Michael Ostrach, 650/343-8673 ext. 207