Axonyx Co-Sponsors First International Winter-Symposium on: 'Alzheimer's Disease: Modification and Measurement of Progression' December 11th - 14th, 2003, Zurs, Austria.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 10, 2003

Axonyx Inc. (NASDAQ:AXYX) is co-sponsoring the First International Winter Symposium on "Alzheimer's disease: Modification and Measurement" from December 11th-14th in Zurs, Austria. Invited speakers at this meeting are some of the leading authorities in this area including representatives from the European Regulatory Authority.

At this symposium, Axonyx has brought together leading experts in the area of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression and modification to discuss the mechanisms by which potential drugs could inhibit or arrest AD. In addition, it is hoped that the symposium will serve to identify and seek consensus on the most appropriate development tools that can be utilized to directly or indirectly measure a drug's inhibition of AD progression.

Axonyx has two compounds that could potentially inhibit AD progression; firstly, Phenserine, its lead compound for AD currently in a Phase III clinical trial in Europe, has a dual mechanism of action associated with acetylcholinesterase (AchE) and Beta Amyloid Precursor Protein (B-APP) inhibition, and secondly, Posiphen, that has only the B-APP inhibition activity. In preclinical studies reduced B-APP levels have led to lower levels of Amyloid beta (AB) and clinical researchers believe that reduced levels of amyloid beta may be a key causative factor in AD. Phenserine has previously been shown to improve the memory of mild-to-moderate AD and may also potentially modify disease progression based on its ability to decrease the production of B-APP. Phenserine's potential ability to cause this same reduction in patients is being examined in a Phase IIB clinical study that is now ongoing. It is intended that Posiphen, now in pre-IND development, could be developed as an inhibitor of AD progression.

The keynote address will be by Professor Bengt Winblad of the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the Karolinska Institute and Chief Physician at the Huddinge Hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Professor Winblad is also Chairman of the Axonyx Steering Committee that oversees the ongoing clinical trials with Phenserine. Other notable speakers include, Steven H. Ferris, Ph.D., Friedman Professor of the Alzheimer Disease Center at New York University (NYU) School of Medicine, Executive Director of NYU's Silberstein Institute for Aging and Dementia, and Principal Investigator of their NIA-Supported Alzheimer Disease Center, Nigel Greg, Ph.D., Chief, Drug Design & Development, from the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, Baltimore, MD, and Kumar Sambamurti, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physiology and Neuroscience, from the Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC.

"As a Company with a number of drugs in development, notably Phenserine and Posiphen, that may potentially have an effect on Alzheimer's disease progression, we are very excited to be co-sponsoring this educational event on Alzheimer's disease," stated Gosse B. Bruinsma MD, President and COO of Axonyx, "With the increasing numbers of people being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, now at over 12 million worldwide, it is important that we bring together the experts to focus on how we can best try to stop it."

Full details of the symposium are available on the Axonyx web site at www.axonyx.com.

About Axonyx

Axonyx Inc. is a U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company engaged in the acquisition and development of proprietary pharmaceutical compounds and new technologies useful in the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease, human memory disorders and prion-based illnesses such as Mad Cow disease.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements or predictions. These statements represent our judgment to date, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could materially affect the Company including those risks and uncertainties described in the documents Axonyx files from time to time with the SEC, specifically Axonyx's annual report on Form 10-K. Axonyx cannot assure that the Phase IIB and/or the Phase III clinical trial, or others, if any, with Phenserine will prove successful, that the safety and efficacy profile of Phenserine exhibited in the previous small Phase II trial will remain the same in the Phase IIB and Phase III clinical trials, or future clinical trials, if any, that the preclinical results related to the regulation of beta-APP will be substantiated by the Phenserine Phase IIB clinical trial and that Phenserine will be able to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, that the Phase IIB clinical trial data will differentiate Phenserine from the currently marketed drugs, that the efficacy results of the Phase III trial will prove pivotal, that the efficacy data from the Phase IIB clinical trial will be able to be used in the Phase III trial efficacy data, that Axonyx will obtain the necessary financing to complete the Phase III Phenserine trials, that the Company's development work on Phenserine will support an NDA filing, that the results of the Phase III trials will allow Phenserine to be approved by the FDA, that the FDA will grant marketing approval for Phenserine, that if Phenserine is approved by the FDA, it will prove competitive in the market, and that Axonyx will obtain licensing or corporate partnership agreements that will enable acceleration of the development of and optimize marketing opportunities for, Phenserine, or that Axonyx will be able to advance any other potential memory enhancing compound toward IND status. Axonyx undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revisions to such forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.