TECHNE Corporation Releases Unaudited First Quarter Results for Fiscal Year 2002

Minneapolis/October 18/--For the three months ended September 30, 2001, Techne’s consolidated net income increased 12% to $8,424,781 or 20 cents per share (diluted), compared with $7,503,050 or 18 cents per share (diluted) in the first quarter of last year. The improvement in earnings was primarily the result of increased sales. For the three months ended September 30, 2001, Techne’s consolidated sales were $29,842,666, an increase of $2,121,103 or 8% from the first quarter of last year. R&D Systems’ Biotechnology Division net sales increased 8% to $19,365,734 from $17,920,915 and R&D Systems’ Hematology Division net sales increased 4% to $3,649,593 from $3,508,217. R&D Europe’s net sales increased 9% to $6,827,339 from $6,292,431.

Sales for the quarter were $750,000 to $1 million less than expected primarily due to the tragic events of September 11, 2001. Four shipping days were lost domestically and five days were lost internationally as a result of the grounding of aircraft. Incoming customer orders for the week were significantly below normal levels both at R&D Systems and R&D Europe. Although customer activity was brisk in the following weeks, we believe some business was lost as a result of a slow down in research activities during the week of September 11. The estimated affect on earnings per share of this loss in sales was approximately one cent.

R&D Europe’s net sales for the quarter were also affected by changes in exchange rates. Adjusted for all changes in exchange rates, R&D Europe’s sales for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 would have been approximately $187,000 higher than reported. It is anticipated that exchange rate changes during the remainder of the year will have less of an affect on sales than exchange rate changes had on last year’s sales.

Techne’s consolidated results for the quarter include approximately $46,000 of losses from the operations of Discovery Genomics, Inc., a recently organized company in which Techne made a $3,000,000 equity investment in August 2001. Techne has a 39% equity interest in Discovery Genomics, Inc. Also included in Techne’s consolidated results for the quarter are approximately $84,000 of losses by ChemoCentryx, Inc. in which Techne has a 26% equity interest.

During the first quarter of fiscal 2002, Techne purchased and retired 20,000 shares of common stock at a market value of $485,010. From the start of the repurchase program in May 1995, 1,361,200 shares have been purchased at a market value of $10,402,892. The Board of Directors has authorized, subject to market conditions and share price, the purchase and retirement of up to $20 million of common stock.

Statements in this earnings release and elsewhere which look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties which may affect the actual results of operations. The following important factors, among others, have affected and, in the future, could affect the Company’s actual results: the introduction and acceptance of new biotechnology and hematology products, the levels and particular directions of research into cytokines by the Company’s customers, the impact of the growing number of producers of cytokine research products and related price competition, the retention of hematology OEM and proficiency survey business, the impact of currency exchange rate fluctuations, the outcome of litigation involving the Company and the costs and results of research and product development efforts of the Company and of companies in which the Company has invested or with which it has formed strategic relationships. For additional information concerning such factors, see the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Techne Corporation has two operating subsidiaries: Research and Diagnostic Systems, Inc. (R&D Systems) of Minneapolis, Minnesota and R&D Systems Europe, Ltd. (R&D Europe) of Abingdon, England. R&D Systems is a specialty manufacturer of biological products and R&D Europe is a distributor of biotechnology products.

Contact: Kathy Backes, 612-379-8854