EXHIBIT 99.1

                  OXIGENE, INC. ADOPTS STOCKHOLDER RIGHTS PLAN

         Waltham, Mass.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-March 25, 2005-OXiGENE, Inc. (NASDAQ:
         OXGN, XSSE: OXGN) announced today that its Board of Directors has
         adopted a Stockholder Rights Plan (the "Rights Plan") that is designed
         to strengthen the ability of the Board of Directors to protect
         OXiGENE's stockholders. The plan was not adopted in response to any
         unsolicited offer or takeover attempt.

         Each stockholder of record of the Company on April 4, 2005, will
         receive a dividend of one Right for each outstanding share of Common
         Stock held. Each right represents the right to purchase, under certain
         circumstances, a share of OXiGENE's Common Stock. The rights are
         triggered upon the public announcement of the acquisition by a person
         or group of 15 percent or more of OXiGENE's Common Stock, or ten days
         after the commencement of a tender or exchange offer for OXiGENE Common
         Stock that would result in the acquisition of 15 percent or more of
         OXiGENE's Common Stock. The Rights expire March 24, 2015, unless
         redeemed or exchanged earlier by OXiGENE's Board of Directors. The
         Rights distribution will not be taxable to Stockholders.

         The Rights Plan is designed to protect OXiGENE stockholders against
         abusive or coercive takeover tactics and other takeover tactics not in
         the best interests of the company and its stockholders, such as
         acquisitions of control without paying all stockholders a fair premium,
         coercive tender offers and inadequate offers. It is not intended to
         prevent an offer that the Board concludes is in the best interest of
         OXiGENE and its stockholders. A complete copy of the Rights Plan will
         be included in a Form 8-K that OXiGENE plans to file today with the
         Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, stockholders of
         records of OXiGENE on April 4, 2005, will be mailed a detailed summary
         of the Rights Plan.

         OXiGENE is an emerging pharmaceutical company developing novel
         small-molecule therapeutics to treat cancer and eye diseases. The
         Company's major focus is the clinical advancement of drug candidates
         that selectively disrupt abnormal blood vessels associated with solid
         tumor progression and visual impairment. OXiGENE is dedicated to
         leveraging its intellectual property position and therapeutic
         development expertise to bring life saving and enhancing medicines to
         patients.

         This news release about OXiGENE's Rights Plan may contain
         "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private
         Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any and all of the
         forward-looking statements in this press release may turn out to be
         wrong. They can be affected by inaccurate assumptions OXiGENE might
         make or by known or unknown risks and uncertainties. Additional
         information concerning factors that could cause actual results to
         materially differ from those in the forward-looking statements are
         contained in OXiGENE's

         reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including OXiGENE's
         10-Q, 8-K and 10-K reports. However, OXiGENE undertakes no obligation
         to publicly update forward-looking statements, whether because of new
         information, future events or otherwise. Please refer to our Annual
         Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004 for a
         description of these risks.

         Contact: OXiGENE Inc.
                  James Murphy, 781-547-5900
                  Vice President and CFO
                  jmurphy@oxigene.com
                  or
                  MacDougall BioCommunications
                  Chris Erdman, 508-647-0209
                  Vice President
                  chris@macbiocom.com

         Source:  OXiGENE Inc.


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