New Study Indicates Benefits of Ampligen(R) In Treatment of Severe CFS

(Amex: HEB; HEBws) today announced results of an independentevaluation of the potential pharmaco-economic benefits ofAmpligen(R) in treatment of severe Chronic FatigueSyndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), including a decreasein the number of doses of other medicines used with Ampligen(R)and inpatient hospital treatment days. The findings were presented at the Second World Conference onCFS in Brussels and developed by EPI-Q, an independent companythat conducts pharmaco-economic studies under grand support. The results of this analysis indicated a significant decreasein the number of doses of concomitant medications requiredbetween the treatment and control groups. The patients receivingAmpligen(R), Hemispherx's lead compound, also demonstrated theneed for substantially fewer inpatient hospital treatment days --101 days for the placebo group versus 15 days for the Ampligen(R)group -- during the 24-week study period. This translated into anannualized decrease in hospital charges of $5,806.78 forhospitalizations alone. With the addition of concomitantmedication cost, the mean annualized health-care charges for thetreatment group were $2,097.52 versus $8,606.14 in the placebogroup. The object of this study was to document the potentialpharmaco-economic impact of Ampligen(R) in the treatment ofCFS/ME, which frequently leads to persistent disability andrequires frequent intervention in the health-care setting as wellas long-term outpatient treatment of pain and central nervoussystem symptoms. This increased utilization of health-careservices leads to significant financial burden to patients andpayers. In fact, independent reports estimate those costs to U.S.insurance companies in excess of several billion dollars peryear. As part of the analysis, pharmaco-economic data, includingmedication use, cost and charges of hospitalizations andemergency-room visits, were collected retrospectively during arandomized, multi-center, double-blind, placebo- controlled trialof 92 patients meeting the CFS/ME United States Centers forDisease Control and Prevention definition. Subjects wererandomized to receive 24 weeks of Ampligen(R) versus placeboadministered by intravenous infusion twice weekly. Independent data from Dr. Kenny De Meirleir et al alsopresented at the Second World Conference on CFS indicate that theduration of Ampligen(R) positive response remains constant for atleast 42 months following treatment initiation. Therefore, the3.5-year annualized costs of Ampligen(R) and placebo groups areprojected to be $13,854.70 and $30,121.58, respectively. Thus,twice-weekly infusion of Ampligen(R) as a treatment of CFS/ME canreduce the utilization of health-care services and concomitantmedications resulting overall in more than 100% return oninvestment for insurance carriers.

Information contained in this news release other thanhistorical information, should be considered forward-looking andis subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. Forinstance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involverisks of competition, changing market conditions, changes in lawsand regulations affecting these industries and numerous otherfactors discussed in this release and in the Company's filingswith the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, actualresults may differ materially from those in any forward-lookingstatements. ots Original Text Service: Hemispherx Biopharma,Inc. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: William A.Carter, M.D., CEO & Chairman, Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc., 215-988-0080; William Jenks, Broadgate Consultants, 212-232-2222, orfax, 212-232-3232; Sharon Will, Investor Relations, 212-572-0762,or fax, 212-572-0764 Web site: http://www.hemispherx.com

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