Hemispherx Announces Major Clinical, Regulatory Progress in Recognizing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

PHILADELPHIA (PROTEXT) - Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (Amex: HEB, HEBws) today announced that a major European country, for the first time in European Union (EU) history, had formally recognized Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) as a severe chronic disease and was taking immediate steps to alleviate the resultant human suffering and economic devastation. In announcing the first official recognition of CFS today, the Ministry of Social Affairs of Belgium stated, "We will adapt health-care regulations to help overcome financial problems and sponsor treatment and start up some dedicated treatment centers for patients with CFS." Hemispherx's lead compound, Ampligen(R), is currently in advanced testing in both Europe and North America. Dedicated Treatment Centers Hemispherx said that it was pleased with the aggressive "go forward" approach now being implemented by Belgian federal health authorities and that it expected other EU countries to follow their lead. The Company noted that the new dedicated treatment centers coincided well with its clinical and corporate presence in Belgium, which was already targeted to the major CFS health issues. The Company stated that this progressive new attitude was also well received by CFS physicians/specialists who evaluate many young people afflicted with CFS. These patients, in the absence of effective therapy, embark on years of a bed-ridden condition associated with pain and progressive intellectual deterioration. New Academic Study on CFS In a related discovery, which was just published in the peer- reviewed medical journal, (Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Vol. 80, p. 1090, 1999), distinguished researchers at the New Jersey Medical School followed a group of CFS patients for four years. In the first-of-its-kind study, these independent researchers observed that only 4% of the patients with severe CFS ever recover without treatment. In this regard, Hemispherx said that new pharmacoeconomic data on Ampligen(R), developed by independent health-care specialists and recently presented at the 2nd World CFS Conference in Brussels, would now be submitted to the Belgian authorities on an accelerated basis to further facilitate the process of drug reimbursement for severely ill CFS patients. Increase Incidence of CFS Hemispherx also noted that another new report by researchers at DePaul University in Chicago (just published in the Archives of Internal Medicine) found approximately twice as many patients with severe CFS in the United States than was reported even a year ago by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), an official branch of the U.S. government. At the Boston International CFS Conference, October 1998, the CDC had reported approximately 500,000 cases meeting strict diagnostic criteria for CFS, but the major new academic study suggests more than 1 million Americans are afflicted with CFS. Information contained in this news release other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risks of competition, changing market conditions, changes in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements. ots Original Text Service: Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: William A. Carter, M.D., CEO & Chairman of Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc., 215- 988-0080; or William Jenks, Institutional Investors, 212-232- 2222, or fax: 212-232-3232, for Hemispherx Web site: http://www.hemispherx.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT