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Cambridge, Mass., January 31, 2008 - Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM) and Harvard Medical School’s Office of Technology Development today announced an innovative collaboration agreement to pursue a research program in the area of protein homeostasis, an emerging and expanding field of cancer biology. Under the terms of the agreement, Harvard has granted Millennium a license to certain invention from the laboratory of Professor J. Wade Harper and the two institutions will jointly advance the program in this novel area of research over several years under a sponsored research agreement. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“Harvard Medical School’s research initiatives in protein homeostasis, together with the demonstrated leadership of Millennium in this area, promises to advance our understanding of this important field and its role in regulating cancer cells,” said Wade Harper, Ph.D., Bert and Natalie Vallee Professor of Molecular Pathology, Harvard Medical School. “We expect this collaboration to accelerate the important work the lab has accomplished to date.”

Research has shown various pathways that regulate cellular protein homeostasis are linked to the pathologic properties of a broad range of cancers. The initial research-based agreement is focused on advancing knowledge in this evolving field over the course of three years.

“Wade Harper’s ground-breaking scientific progress in the field of protein homeostasis makes this agreement a natural fit for our Discovery organization,” said Joe Bolen, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Millennium. “Our mutual interest in advancing this promising area of research will provide the opportunity to apply our combined knowledge and expertise and may ultimately lead to a new generation of therapies for patients.”

The collaboration further underscores the significant expertise in, and commitment to the field of protein homeostasis at Millennium.

About Millennium
Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical company based in Cambridge, Mass., has a robust clinical development pipeline of product candidates. The research, development and commercialization activities of Millennium are focused in two therapeutic areas: oncology and inflammation. By applying its knowledge of the human genome, understanding of disease mechanisms and industrialized drug discovery platform, Millennium is developing an exciting pipeline of innovative product candidates. The Millennium Web site is www.millennium.com.

About Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development
The Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for all activities pertaining to the evaluation, patenting and licensing of new inventions and discoveries made at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. OTD also serves to further the development of Harvard technologies through the establishment of sponsored research collaborations with industry. OTD’s mission is to promote the public good by fostering innovation and translating new inventions made at Harvard into useful products available and beneficial to society.