EXHIBIT 99.4

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Ralph E. Christoffersen, Ph.D.
CEO and President
(303) 449-6500
Freeman McCue Public Relations
Daniel McCue
(714) 557-3663


                    RPI RECEIVES $1 MILLION MILESTONE FROM
               LILLY IN ANTI-HEPATITIS C RIBOZYME COLLABORATION

BOULDER, Colorado July 21, 2000 - Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (RPI)
(NASDAQ:RZYM) reported today the receipt of a $1 million milestone payment from
partner Eli Lilly and Company as a result of meeting a clinical development
milestone with the anti-Hepatitis C ribozyme, LY 466700.

Clinical development of the compound is continuing, and in May the company
reported that in single dose safety trials the drug appeared to be well
tolerated in normal volunteers. Administration of LY466700 to chronic Hepatitis
C patients is underway in a clinical trial designed to study safety and
tolerability and to assess the effect of the compound on HCV viral RNA levels
following a 28 day dose-response regimen.  The drug is being administered by
daily subcutaneous injection to approximately 20 patients.

Hepatitis C is a blood-borne infection that was not routinely screened from the
blood supply prior to 1992.  As a result of this and other methods of
transmission, millions of Americans are infected and may not know it.  Screening
is recommended, as the infection, if untreated, may cause liver damage,
cirrhosis, cancer and death.  Infection rates are high worldwide, with over 125
million individuals carrying Hepatitis C, according to the World Health
Organization. Current treatments are not effective for most patients, and carry
significant side effects.

Ribozymes are the product of Nobel Prize winning science and are synthetically
engineered to act as "molecular scissors" capable of cleaving target RNA in a
highly specific manner.

RPI, (www.rpi.com) located in Boulder, Colorado, is the acknowledged leader in
ribozyme therapeutic development.  In addition to its collaboration with Lilly
for development of an anti-HCV ribozyme, RPI is partnered with Chiron
Corporation for the development and commercialization of ANGIOZYME, an anti-
angiogenic ribozyme designed to inhibit the growth of new blood supplies to
tumors and prevent tumor growth and metastasis. ANGIOZYME is in Phase I/II
clinical trials in cancer patients at the Cleveland Clinic.  RPI is also


partnered with an affiliate of Elan Corporation PLC for development and
commercialization of HERZYME, an anti-HER-2 ribozyme for treatment of breast and
other cancers, through RPI's subsidiary Medizyme Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties, and actual events or results may differ materially. These risk
factors include actions by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, technological
advances, ability to obtain rights to technology, ability to obtain and enforce
patents, ability to commercialize and manufacture products and general economic
conditions. These and additional risk factors are identified in RPI Securities
and Exchange Commission filings, including the Forms 10-K and 10-Q and in other
SEC filings.