AMPAKINE Broad Use Patent for Enhancement of 'Memory and Cognition' Issued to Cortex by the European Patent Office.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2003

Three Additional AMPAKINE(R) Patents Received and Cortex

Highlighted in November Issue of Chemistry & Biology

Cortex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AMEX: COR) has received a notice that the European Patent Office granted the patent entitled, "Drugs that Enhance Synaptic Responses Mediated by AMPA Receptors", Patent No. EP1156043. This patent would potentially block others from using AMPA Receptor up-modulators without first obtaining a license from Cortex. Under the EPO rules this patent has now entered into a nine-month period where opposition can be filed and addressed. Once out of this period, providing any opposition has been resolved in Cortex's favor, the patent then becomes finalized and non-contestable. The scientific work that underlies the concept of AMPA-R up-modulation for glutamate-type receptors to treat psychiatric and neurological diseases originated in 1992 with Dr. Gary Lynch, now Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine, and Dr. Gary Rogers, now Senior Vice President of Pharmaceutical Research at Cortex.

The other three patents include the issuances of the Deed of Letter Patent in New Zealand and the issuance of two composition of matter or structural patents, one in Japan and the other in New Zealand. Like the EPO, New Zealand has an oppositional period, but it is only three months. The same broad use patent for the enhancement of memory and cognition has received the Deed of Letter Patent, the final step in the approval process. As a result, New Zealand is now officially added to countries where Cortex has received the same type of broad protection, which countries include the United States, Mexico and Australia. In these countries, the Company will have rights to claim the use of any drug that works via the mechanism of AMPA-type glutamate receptor (AMPA-R) up-modulation for enhancing memory encoding and cognition in humans. The issued composition of matter patents are for the "Benzoyl Piperidines and Pyrrolidines for Enhancing Synaptic Response", Rogers, et. al., Patent No. 3464800 in Japan and "Benzoxazine Compounds for Enhancing Synaptic Response", Rogers and Marrs, Patent No. 505212 in New Zealand. Each of the patents described above is exclusively licensed by the University of California to Cortex.

Dr. Roger Stoll, Cortex's Chairman, President and CEO said, "The importance of these issued patents is that they will provide Cortex with a wide-ranging territorial franchise for our AMPAKINE compounds." Cortex has exclusive rights to approximately 47 issued or allowed patents for AMPA type glutamate receptor modulators, of which 34 are composition of matter patents. "Many of the indications for these compounds are literally of the "block-buster" size in our industry -- and we believe we hold the key patent rights," added Dr. Stoll.

Cortex's AMPAKINE technology was the focus of an article in the "Innovation" section of the prominent journal Chemistry & Biology in the November 2003 issue. This article resulted from an interview with Dr. Stoll by Nancy Ballew, a freelance science writer. For more information on this article, please visit www.cortexpharm.com. This article provides an insight into the AMPAKINE chemistry to support the Company's business strategy.

About Cortex

Cortex, located in Irvine, California, is a neuroscience company focused on novel drug therapies for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The Company is pioneering a class of proprietary pharmaceuticals called AMPAKINE compounds, which act to increase the strength of signals at connections between brain cells. The loss of these connections is thought to be responsible for memory and behavior problems in Alzheimer's disease. Many psychiatric diseases, including schizophrenia, occur as a result of imbalances in the brain's neurotransmitter system. These imbalances may be improved by using the AMPAKINE technology. Cortex has alliances with N.V. Organon for the treatment of schizophrenia and depression and with Les Laboratoires Servier for the development of AMPAKINE compounds to treat the neurodegenerative effects associated with aging and disease, including mild cognitive impairment, Alzheimer's disease and anxiety disorders. For more information on Cortex Pharmaceuticals, please visit www.cortexpharm.com.

Note -- This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning the Company's patent portfolio, research and development activities and business activities. Actual results may differ materially, depending on a number of risk factors, including the risks that that competitors may challenge or design around the Company's patents or develop competing technologies; that the Company may be unable to secure additional capital needed to continue its operations; that the Company may be unable to arrive at corporate partnerships with larger pharmaceutical companies on acceptable terms and therefore be required to independently fund clinical development of AMPAKINE compounds through the sale of additional equity securities or otherwise; that the Company's proposed products may be unsafe or ineffective for any or all of their proposed indications; and that clinical studies may at any point be suspended or take substantially longer than anticipated to complete. As discussed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, the Company's proposed products would require additional research, lengthy and costly clinical testing and regulatory approval. The AMPAKINE compounds are investigational drugs and have not been approved in the treatment of any disease.