Oulu, Finland -- April 29, 1999 -- FibroGen Europe, Ltd., the Finnish subsidiary of FibroGen, Inc., today announced the renewal of an agreement with the Government of Finland through its development agency, The Technology Development Centre (TEKES), to fund 50 percent of the FibroGen Group's worldwide recombinant collagen and gelatin program costs.

The phase III agreement with TEKES provides funding of FIM 18 million (US $3.2 million at current exchange rates) in the form of grants and equity loans and covers two distinct development areas. The first project covers the basic production technologies including yeast fermentation for recombinant collagen production for the medical device industry as well as transgenic plant production leading to the production of recombinant gelatin for use in pharmaceutical applications. The second project covers development of specific products formulated from basic recombinant collagen, the conversion of collagen to gelatin, the development of unique human gelatin, and the processing of recombinant animal gelatins.

"We are pleased to continue our long-time relationship with the Finnish government, and we look forward to the rapid commercialization of FibroGen's recombinant collagen and gelatin," said James W. Polarek, Ph.D., Managing Director of FibroGen Europe.

FibroGen Europe, Ltd., a subsidiary of FibroGen, Inc., is a private biotechnology company focusing its proprietary properties and expertise in recombinant collagen and gelatin to supply novel biomaterials to companies in the medical device/pharmaceutical industry as well as develop products of its own design. The activities of FibroGen Europe are coordinated through its facilities in Oulu, Finland and South San Francisco, California.

FibroGen, Inc. is a unique biotechnology company dedicated to the development of innovative recombinant human/animal collagen and gelatin biomaterials and novel anti-fibrotic pharmaceuticals. The Company leverages its extracellular matrix biology expertise and comprehensive intellectual property portfolio with an extensive internal and external research and development effort. FibroGen's business model is driven by the near term market introduction of recombinant collagen/gelatin with longer term drug development programs addressing major unmet medical needs in dermal scarring, deep organ fibrosis and tissue regeneration. More information on FibroGen is available at the corporate web site http://www.fibrogen.com.