Evolutec Group plc (AIM: EVC), a biopharmaceutical company engaged in developing
novel products for the treatment of allergic, inflammatory and autoimmune
diseases, is pleased to announce that it has agreed, subject to certain
conditions, to raise approximately £9.5 million, net of expenses, by way of a
Placing.

Highlights

•   Evolutec is raising approximately £9.5 million, net of expenses, through 
    the placing of 7,142,858 Placing shares at a Placing price of 140p a
    share. The Placing is being fully underwritten by Collins Stewart.

•   The Placing price represents a discount of approximately 21.6 per cent to 
    the closing mid-market price of 178.5p per Ordinary share as at 22 March
    2005, the latest practicable date prior to the announcement of the Placing.

•   The Placing shares are being offered only to a number of new institutions 
    and existing institutional investors to ensure certainty, to broaden the 
    institutional shareholder base and to minimise transaction costs.

•   The funds raised will be used to fund further clinical studies of the
    Company's lead compound, rEV131, in rhinitis, post-cataract surgery and dry 
    eye, and to progress the development of rEV598 and rEV576.

•   Evolutec's Directors have agreed to subscribe an aggregate of £145,000
    for 103,571 Placing shares at the Placing price.

•   The necessary authority required for the allotment of Placing shares
    pursuant to the Placing will be sought at an Extraordinary General Meeting
    convened for 11.00am on 20 April 2005.

Commenting on the Placing, Mark Carnegie Brown, Evolutec's Chief Executive,
said: 'I am delighted by the high level of institutional support for this
Placing, which underlined the progress we have made since joining AIM last year.
The additional funds will allow us to accelerate the development of the Company
with the dual objectives of bringing novel medicines to market and building
value for our shareholders.'

Evolutec is today hosting an R&D review for analysts and institutional
shareholders. The R&D review, which will focus on the Company's clinical
development programmes, will take place at Buchanan Communications, 107
Cheapside, London EC2V 6DN, from 3.30pm to 5.30pm. Speakers will include the
Company's management and also Professor Mark Abelson, lead clinician and Senior
Clinical Scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute, Associate Clinical
Professor at Harvard Medical School and President, Opthalmic Research
Associates, Inc.

For further information:

Evolutec                                                          01865 784070
Mark Carnegie Brown, Chief Executive Officer
Nicholas Badman, Chief Financial Officer

www.evolutec.co.uk

Collins Stewart                                                   020 7523 8350
Chris Howard

Buchanan Communications                                           020 7466 5000
Mark Court/Tim Anderson/Mary-Jane Johnson

Notes for Editors

About Evolutec

Evolutec, which is based in Oxford, UK, is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical
company with a focus on allergy, inflammation and auto-immune diseases.

The Company's lead product, rEV131, is a histamine-binding protein that has
progressed to phase II trials in allergic conjunctivitis, rhinitis and ocular
inflammation.  Positive pre-clinical data has also been generated in asthma.
rEV131 is understood to be the only product currently in clinical trials that
impacts the recently discovered H4 receptor, a receptor implicated in many forms
of inflammatory disease.  The Company intends to carryout proof of concept phase
II clinical trials with rEV131 in allergic rhinitis and post-cataract surgery in
2005.

The Company has a further two products in pre-clinical development, rEV598 which
is being evaluated in carcinoid syndrome and CINV (chemotherapy-induced nausea
and vomiting), and rEV576, a complement inhibitor.

Evolutec was founded in 1998 to exploit research carried out by the Natural
Environment Research Council.  Evolutec's drugs were first isolated from the
saliva of ticks.  The tick remains undetected by its hosts, including humans, by
injecting an array of molecules into the skin that suppresses normal defence
mechanisms.  These stealth molecules have evolved over millions of years to
enable the tick to take a blood meal from its host.  Evolutec employs the tick's
evolutionary stealth technology to offer the potential of treating human
diseases.