Xechem Anticipates Revenue in 2005 from Nigerian Sickle Cell Market - Full Support from Ministry of Health and Ministry of Science and Technology in Nigeria -.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2004

Xechem International, Inc. (OTCBB: XKEM) today announced that it is anticipating revenues between $6 million and $12 million in 2005. A majority of this revenue is expected to come from sales in Nigeria on their orphan drug NICOSAN(TM) (HEMOXIN(TM)), used to treat Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). Furthermore, the Ministry of Health in Nigeria and the Ministry of Science and Technology are supporting Xechem's initiatives to control SCD, an insidious and painful genetic blood disorder often resulting in death at an early age, with NICOSAN(TM).

Xechem is poised for significant growth over the next year. The Company has strategically targeted Nigeria as a focal point. As the seventh largest country in the world, Nigeria maintains the highest sickle cell disease population in the world estimated at between four and five million sufferers, roughly three to four percent of the country's population. Xechem has been working in total cooperation with the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), a division of the Ministry of Health, and has been providing NICOSAN(TM) on a compassionate basis since February 2003. In addition, the commercial launch of NICOSAN(TM) is expected in the first half of 2005.

The Company's unique relationships with the Nigerian Ministry of Health and another of its divisions, the National Agency of Food Drug Administration and Control (the Nigerian Food and Drug Administration), has created a stable business environment that will nurture the continued development and use of NICOSAN(TM). While Xechem owns the exclusive rights to NICOSAN(TM), Xechem Nigeria, a majority owned subsidiary of Xechem International, will manage this project.

According to Xechem's President William Pursley, "All of the essential elements needed to generate revenue are in place. First, the manufacturing facility in Nigeria, provided by the Nigerian Ministry of Science and Technology, allows for the drug to be produced and disseminated locally to a mass of SCD sufferers urgently in need of pain relief, quickly and efficiently. Also, we have an established licensing agreement with NIPRD, and finally, we have the backing of both the Ministries of Health and Science and Technology in Nigeria who will encourage SCD education, prevention and treatment among Nigerians, including NICOSAN(TM)."

Xechem is also looking to establish HEMOXIN in the United States for SCD sufferers and will transfer technology from Nigeria to the U.S. to set up a second manufacturing site to supply the U.S. population. The Company anticipates filing a phase I/II IND in the U.S. this year. In September of 2003, the company received Orphan Drug designation from the Food and Drug Association, Office of Orphan Drug Products Development for HEMOXIN. In the United States, there are approximately 80,000 patients suffering with SCD who have, on average, three to five crises per year. The estimated annual insurance costs for hospitalization associated with SCD crises are approximately $475 million.

ABOUT NICOSAN(TM) (HEMOXIN):

NICOSAN(TM) is a phytopharmaceutical composition of four traditional plants including Pterocarpus osun, Eugenia caryophyllum, Sorghum bicolor and Piper gineenses, which are indigenous to Nigeria and extracted in a proprietary process. NIPRD published results of clinical trials in Nigeria demonstrating safety and efficacy in humans. More recently, as published in the May 2003 issue of the British Journal of Haematology, the anti sickling effect of NIPRISIN was proven in five different parameters.

Xechem International, Inc. is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focusing on proprietary technologies for orphan diseases. Its mission is to increase the quality and quantity of life of the people who suffer from these diseases.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by safe harbors created hereby. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, including the ability of the Companies to successfully develop and commercialize their technologies, and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Companies to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements of the Companies expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.