RNS Number:5109U
Tepnel Life Sciences PLC
22 January 2004




                    Tepnel Life Sciences plc ("the Company")


               TEPNEL LIFE SCIENCES PLC ("THE COMPANY" OR "TEPNEL")

                COMPLETION OF ACQUISITION OF ORCHID DIAGNOSTICS UNIT



Manchester, UK 22 January 2004 - The Board of Tepnel Life Sciences PLC (AIM:
TED) announces today that it has completed the acquisition of certain assets and
liabilities of the Orchid Diagnostics unit ("Orchid Diagnostics") of Orchid
BioSciences Inc. (Nasdaq: ORCH) ("Orchid"). Orchid Diagnostics, which will now
operate as Tepnel Lifecodes Corporation in the U.S. and Tepnel Diagnostics Ltd.
in Europe, provides systems, consumables and services for HLA testing for organ
transplantation matching, genetic screening for disease predisposition, as well
as certain related support services.



Under the terms of the agreement, Tepnel has acquired the product and services
business of Orchid Diagnostics unit in the U.S., the U.K. and Belgium, including
its LifeMatch(TM) system and consumable product line for HLA testing and its
Elucigene(TM) product line for testing of certain genetic diseases, for $3.45
million in cash, subject to a further adjustment in respect of net assets once
completion accounts have been prepared and agreed by both parties. Orchid and
Tepnel agreed among other things, to a revised purchase price of $3.45 million
to reflect current market conditions. Tepnel has taken control of the facilities
formerly occupied by Orchid Diagnostics in Stamford, Connecticut and anticipates
it will retain all of the diagnostics unit's employees.



The acquisition of Orchid Diagnostics establishes a U.S. operations platform and
direct sales capability for Tepnel, creating new distribution channels for
existing products and services.  The Orchid Diagnostics unit employs a team of
six field sales people in the U.S., selling products to the clinical markets.
Tepnel will now be able to sell its own DNA purification products and services
to the U.S. biomedical market.



Tepnel Lifecodes Corporation's US facility is located close to a large number of
major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies on the East Coast of the United
States. Tepnel is targeting its Nucleopure T2000 DNA purification system at
major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.



Commenting on the acquisition, Tepnel's CEO, Ben Matzilevich said "this
acquisition, together with the organic growth from our core businesses, will
create a North American sales capability for Tepnel, allowing us access to the
worlds largest market for nucleic acid purification and food safety."





Enquiries:



Tepnel Life Sciences plc                                 0161 946 2200
Ben Matzilevich/Gron Ffoulkes-Davies

Orchid Biosciences                                     +1 609 750 2221
Tracy J. Henrikson

De Facto Communications                                  020 7496 3300
Yvonne Alexander





About Tepnel Life Sciences PLC

Tepnel is a UK-based international life sciences instrumentation and services
company with a 'tri-polar' strategy focused on providing the biomedical industry
with high-throughput automated DNA purification systems, manual DNA purification
kits and reagents, as well as scientific services for nucleic acid purification,
drug analysis, genotyping and genetically modified foods. Tepnel was founded in
1992 to exploit DNA technology generated at UMIST (University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology) and is quoted on the AIM market of the
London Stock Exchange (AIM: TED). More information on Tepnel can be found at
www.tepnel.com.



About Orchid BioSciences, Inc.
Orchid BioSciences is the leading provider of identity genomics services for the
forensic and paternity DNA testing markets and for public health DNA testing for
food safety. Orchid's market leading positions in these segments leverage the
Company's accredited laboratories in the U.S. and U.K., its innovative genetic
analysis technologies and expertise, and the world-renowned Cellmark and
GeneScreen brands that have been associated with exceptional quality,
reliability, innovation and customer service for nearly two decades. More
information on Orchid can be found at www.orchid.com.







                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END

ACQEAAFFALNLEAE