Axonyx Inc. Added to Russell 3000 Index.

NEW YORK -- Axonyx Inc. (NASDAQ: AXYX) today announced that it was added as a member of the Russell 3000(R) Index on June 25th when the Frank Russell Company reconstituted its family of U.S. indices. Membership in the Russell 3000 remains in place for one year.

Russell indices are widely used by investment managers for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active strategies. More than $360 billion is invested in index funds based on Russell's indices and an additional $850 billion is benchmarked to them. Investment managers who oversee these funds purchase shares of member stocks according to that company's weighting in the particular index.

S. Colin Neill, Chief Financial Officer, of Axonyx, said, "There are great benefits to being added to the Russell Indices. The inclusion will help increase our visibility with investors and institutions that rely on the Russell Indices as part of their investment strategy. We believe this inclusion will provide us with the opportunity to further expand our shareholder base and increase our trading volume."

Membership in Russell's 21 U.S. equity indices is determined by objective rules, such as market capitalization rankings. Annual reconstitution of the Russell indices captures the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000. The largest 1,000 companies in the ranking comprise the Russell 1000 while the remaining 2,000 companies become the widely used Russell 2000.

Marvin S. Hausman, M.D., Chairman and CEO of Axonyx, stated, "This inclusion in the Russell index is a recognition of the substantial progress made by our Company over the past one year. We have raised over $100 million to strengthen our balance sheet, and have progressed both our Phase III and Phase IIB Phenserine for Alzheimer's disease trials to near completion."

About Frank Russell Company

Frank Russell Company, a global leader in multi-manager investment services, provides investment products and services in more than 35 countries. Russell manages $67 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide representing US$1.6 trillion. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Wash., with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo. For more information; go to www.russell.com.

About Axonyx

Axonyx Inc. is a U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company engaged in the acquisition and development of proprietary pharmaceutical compounds for the treatment of Central Nervous System disorders. The Company's leading Alzheimer's disease drug candidate is Phenserine, a dual action acetylcholinesterase and beta-amyloid precursor protein (B-APP) inhibitor, and currently in Phase IIB and Phase III clinical trials. A previously completed Phase II trial showed that Phenserine was well tolerated and effective in improving the memory of mild-to-moderate AD patients.

The ongoing Phase IIB clinical study is designed to evaluate Phenserine's ability to lower the levels of the beta-amyloid precursor protein (B-APP) and Amyloid beta (A-B) in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid of mild-to-moderate AD patients. The presence of toxic beta-amyloid in the brains of AD patients is considered by many experts to be a key pathological event in the causation as well as the progression of AD. A reduction of these levels may be able to slow the progression of AD.

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.