Axonyx Science Well Represented at 8th Annual Montreal/Springfield Symposium on Alzheimer - Continuing Medical Education.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2004

Leading International Researchers Presenting Data on the

Action of Phenserine in Alzheimer's Disease

Axonyx Inc. (NASDAQ: AXYX) today announced that information on the action of Phenserine, Axonyx's lead Alzheimer's drug candidate, is being offered at the 8th annual Montreal/Springfield Symposium on Alzheimer - Continuing Medical Education Conference being held in Montreal April 14-17, 2004. Five poster presentations on Phenserine are available:

-- (-)-PHENSERINE, AN EXPERIMENTAL ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

ACETYLCHOLINESTERASE INHIBITOR THAT AFFECTS COGNITION AND

B-AMYLOID PRECURSOR PROTEIN TRANSLATION NH Greig(1), T

Utsuki(1), Q-S Yu(1), HW Holloway(1), Perry T(1), T

Giordano(2), K Sambamurti(3), DK Lahiri(4). (1) Laboratory of

Neurosciences, NIA/NIH, Baltimore, MD; (2) Louisiana State

University, Shreveport, LA; (3) Medical University of South

Carolina, Charleston, SC; Institute of Psychiatric Research,

(4) Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN,

USA.

-- EFFECT OF (-)-PHENSERINE ON THE LEVELS OF AMYLOID PRECURSOR

PROTEIN (APP) AND AMYLOID B-PEPTIDE (AB) IN CELL CULTURE AND

TRANSGENIC MICE EXPRESSING HUMAN APP K Sambamurti(1), S

Taylor(1), P Chung(1), B Lamb(2), DK Lahiri(3), NH Greig(4)

(1) Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, (2)

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH, (3) Indiana

University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN; (4)

Laboratory of Neurosciences, NIA/NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA.

-- MODIFYING AMYLOID PRECURSOR PROTEIN EXPRESSION TO REGULATE

AMYLOID B-PEPTIDE: ACTIONS OF PHENSERINE, TRANSFORMING GROWTH

FACTOR AND CYTOKINES IN CELL CULTURE. DK Lahiri(1), Y-W Ge(1),

MR Farlow(1), D Chen(1), K Sambamurti(2), and NH Greig(3)

(1) Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN;

(2) Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC,

(3) Laboratory of Neurosciences, NIA/NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA.

-- (-)-PHENSERINE'S ACTION ON NITRIC OXIDE SYNTHASE EXPRESSION IN

NORMAL AND APP/PS1 DOUBLE TRANSGENIC MICE DK. Lahiri(1), Y-W

Ge(1), D Chen(1), K Sambamurti(2) NH Greig(3) (1) Indiana

University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN; (2) Medical

University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, (3) Laboratory

of Neurosciences, NIA/NIH, Baltimore, MD, USA.

-- A DOUBLE BLIND, RANDOMIZED, PLACEBO-CONTROLLED STUDY OF

(-)-PHENSERINE IN ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE JE Harrison(1),

L Kirby(2), B Baumel(3), LS Eisner(3), B Safirstein(3),

J Birrell(4) and GB Bruinsma(5) (1)CPC Pharma Services, PO Box

3223, Warminster, Wiltshire, UK; (2)Pivotal Research Centers,

Peoria, AZ, USA; (3)Baumel-Eisner Neuromedical Institute, Fort

Lauderdale, FL, USA; (4)Cambridge Cognition, Cambridge, UK;

(5)Axonyx Inc., New York, NY, USA.

In addition, among the oral presentations will be several by researchers associated with Axonyx:

-- RECENT ADVANCES ON CHOLINESTERASE INHIBITORS AND AMYLOID-BETA

PROTEINS: IMPLICATIONS IN AD DK Lahiri, Indiana University

School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

-- INHIBITING BETA-SHEET A-BETA FOLDING AND AGGREGATION FOR AD

THERAPY Claudio Soto, University of Texas, Galveston, TX

Dr. Marvin Hausman, Chairman and CEO of Axonyx, noted, "We are delighted that our science is well represented at this important conference. Axonyx continues to be among the thought leaders seeking ways to understand and deal with this devastating disease, Alzheimer's. The data from our pivotal Phase III and Phase IIB amyloid beta trials, currently ongoing in Europe, will potentially add much value to the research data base on Alzheimer's treatments."

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. Its 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.