Dr. Paul Berg Joins Gilead Sciences Board of Directors

Foster City, CA -- April 30, 1998

Gilead Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ:GILD) announced today that Paul Berg, Ph.D., has been appointed to the Company's Board of Directors.

Dr. Berg, 72, is Cahill Professor in Cancer Research in the Department of Biochemistry at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he has been on the faculty since 1959. He has been the Director of the Stanford University Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Medicine since its founding in 1985 and was head of the National Institutes of Health's Human Genome Project Scientific Advisory Committee. Dr. Berg has been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1966 and received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980 for his studies of the biochemistry of nucleic acids, particularly recombinant DNA.

Dr. Berg also serves on the Boards of Directors of Affymetrix, Inc. and Transgene, Inc. and is the founder and a scientific advisor to Schering-Plough's DNAX Research Institute.

"We are indeed fortunate that Paul Berg has agreed to join the Gilead team," said Donald H. Rumsfeld, Chairman of Gilead's Board of Directors. "His scientific judgment based on his long and distinguished career will be of benefit to our company as we continue to discover, develop and commercialize important new therapies for viral diseases."

In addition to Dr. Berg and Mr. Rumsfeld, a private businessman, the Board of Directors of Gilead Sciences consists of Etienne F. Davignon, Chairman, Société Générale de Belgique; James M. Denny, Managing Director, William Blair Capital Partners, LLC; John C. Martin, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Gilead Sciences; Gordon E. Moore, Ph.D., Chairman Emeritus, Intel Corporation and George P. Shultz, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Michael L. Riordan, M.D., who founded Gilead in 1987 and has served on its Board since that time, is retiring from the Board and will not stand for reelection as a Director in 1998.

Gilead Sciences is an independent biopharmaceutical company that seeks to provide accelerated solutions for patients and the people who care for them. The company discovers, develops and commercializes proprietary therapeutics for important viral diseases, including a currently marketed product for the treatment of CMV retinitis, a sight-threatening viral infection in patients with AIDS. In addition, the Company is developing products to treat diseases caused by HIV, hepatitis B virus and influenza virus. Gilead common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol GILD.