Axonyx Compound Licensed to Serono Shows Potency in Reducing Alzheimer's Disease Pathology.

Business Editors and Medical/Health Writers

NEW YORK--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 15, 2001

Axonyx, Inc (NASDAQ: AXYX) today announced the findings of a paper presented at the Society for Neuroscience, 31st Annual Meeting, entitled, "Beta-Sheet Breaker Peptide Reduces Amyloid Load and Cerebral Damage in an Alzheimer's Transgenic Animal Model."

A subsidiary of Serono S.A. (NYSE: SRA and SWX: SEO) licensed the beta-sheet breaker technology from Axonyx in May 1999.

Dr. Claudio Soto, Head of Molecular Neuropathology at the Serono Pharmaceutical Research Institute in Switzerland presented data on the beta-sheet breaker compounds that he designed for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Soto revealed that these beta-sheet breaker compounds dramatically reduced both amyloid plaques (by approximately 50%) and nerve cell death in a transgenic animal model of AD. The experiments were part of the pre-clinical program that Serono is conducting with a view towards the commencement of human clinical trials in 2002.

"We are pleased to see how Serono has developed the beta-sheet concept and is progressing this novel approach for AD in their preclinical studies," stated Marvin S. Hausman, M.D., President and CEO of Axonyx, Inc. "We are very excited about these findings that confirm the belief that the beta-sheet breaker concept is a viable therapeutic option for diseases caused by protein folding and aggregation, such as AD. We look forward to Serono's initiation of human clinical trials in Alzheimer's Disease patients."

Axonyx, Inc. is a US-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 and other cognitive disorders.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements or predictions. These statements represent our judgment as of this date and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could materially affect the Company, including the risks that Serono may decide not to proceed with the development of compounds based on the beta-sheet breaker technology, that clinical trials with the beta-sheet breaker technology may not prove successful, as well as those risks and uncertainties described in the documents Axonyx files from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically Axonyx's Annual Report on Form 10-KSB, as amended.