( BW)(BIOTIME)(BTIM) Howard Stein, Former Chairman of Dreyfus Corp.,

to Advise BioTime


   Business Editors & Health Writers



   BERKELEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 24, 1996--BioTime Inc.

(NASDAQ: BTIM) announced today that Howard Stein, the former

chairman of the Board and chief executive officer of The Dreyfus

Corp., has agreed to serve on BioTime's newly formed Management

Advisory Committee.



   Stein, who is widely considered one of the fathers of the mutual

fund industry, led Dreyfus Corp. for more than 30 years.  Dreyfus

Corp. was sold to Mellon Bank Corp. in 1994 for $1.8 billion.



   BioTime's chief executive officer, Dr. Paul Segall, said:

"BioTime is extremely fortunate to have access to advice from

Howard, who is a tested executive with broad experience and high

standing in the financial community.  His agreement to join our

newly formed Management Advisory Committee comes at a most

interesting and propitious moment in BioTime's history.



   "We are a company in transition, ready to bring products from the

research and development stage into clinical use.  BioTime's Hextend®

plasma expander is ready to enter Phase III clinical testing, and

other products are being readied for future investigational new drug

applications."



   Elaborating on the role of the Management Advisory Committee,

Segall said it will advise the Board of Directors and senior

officers on positioning the company to realize the best possible

return from BioTime's Hextend® and other proprietary products, as

such products proceed from the development stage to full commercial

exploitation.



   As part of such positioning, the Management Advisory Committee

will advise the Board and senior officers on certain matters of

personnel, negotiations and finance that will include, among other

things, the following:


   -- The Management Advisory Committee will undertake a search for

a chairman of the Board to replace Lawrence Cohen, whose retirement

was also announced today.  It is contemplated that the new chairman

(and such other executives who the Board may hire) will lead the

Board in its development and implementation of strategic business

and marketing plans, and be charged with representing the strategic

interests of BioTime to the financial community and pharmaceutical

industry.


   -- The Management Advisory Committee also will advise BioTime in

its negotiations with third parties who may be interested in

obtaining rights in the United States and foreign countries to

BioTime's products and patents, and will provide financial

consulting to BioTime, including advice on devising a capital

structure conducive to attracting additional financing.


   The other members of the Management Advisory Committee are Alfred

D. Kingsley and Gary K. Duberstein, who are the principals of

Greenbelt Corp., which has been advising BioTime since September

1995.


   BioTime said that Cohen retired as director and chairman of the

Board in order to devote more time to developing startup and early

stage companies.  Segall praised Cohen for his service on the Board,

saying he was "instrumental in raising the financing for BioTime

from its inception to the present day."



   Cohen said, "BioTime's management and researches have done an

outstanding job in turning scientific concepts into new products.

It is very rare for a pharmaceutical products company to go so far

so fast, especially while spending so little money."



   BioTime, headquartered in Berkeley, is engaged in the research

and development of synthetic blood plasma volume expanders and low

temperature blood substitute solutions and technology for use in

surgery, emergency trauma treatment, the preservation of organs

awaiting transplant, and other applications.


   CONTACT:  BioTime Inc., Berkeley

	 Victoria Bellport, 510/845-9535