HILADELPHIA, April 22 /PRNewswire/ -- HemispheRx Biopharma, Inc. (Nasdaq:
HEMXU) announced today receipt of a broad group of new patent approvals from
examiners representing the European Patent Organization (EPO).  These new
patents afford broad proprietary protection to a class of drug entities
termed nucleic acids (NAs) which can selectively activate components of the
immune system in individuals suffering from various chronic viral diseases. 

The newly issued set of EPO patents, titled "Elaboration of Host Defenses
Mediators into Biological Fluids" were designed to encompass a broad set of
closely related drug compounds, termed NA drug congeners, which in various ex
vivo and in vivo studies activate certain components of the human immune
system with significant selectivity and specificity. 

With the new patent issuances, the Company's portfolio has grown to 230 in a
specific area of nucleic acid medicinal technology.  HemispheRx said that by
establishing an intellectual property estate of this magnitude, the Company's
overriding objective has been to further encompass and protect a unique body
of proprietary NA drug technology within the global health care markets,
especially for chronic debilitating and/or life-threatening viral diseases
for which no adequate long term therapy exists for the majority of patients.
The Company believes that, with the newly issued EPO patents, its overall
patent portfolio may be among the largest in the biopharmaceutical sector. 

The Company stated that in the patient populations which it is targeting, the
natural (cell-based) immunological and antiviral defenses are often defective
or dormant, which may contribute both to disease severity and duration in the
various chronic viral diseases with which they are afflicted.  The Company's
treatment strategy for these severely afflicted individuals is aimed at
mitigating or reducing the common high relapse rates, which are often related
to drug resistance.  In chronic viral infections, relapses can occur with
conventional compounds that are deployed to directly attack invasive viral
agents.  Drug resistance can occur when the virus hides in certain
sequestered parts of the body, termed "viral sanctuaries," and thereafter,
escapes and spreads shortly after direct antiviral therapy has been
discontinued.  Rather than attack the viral agent directly, the NA compounds
being developed by HemispheRx selectively activate certain functional limbs
of the defective immune system, which then use the body's restored natural
defense mechanisms to combat the virus on a more sustained basis. 

On April 17, 1996, the Company's Canadian partner, Helix Biopharma Corp.,
announced a clinical program designed to jointly develop one of HemispheRx's
patented immune modulators, termed Ampligen(R).  These programs are to be
directed at a wide array of chronic viral disorders in Canada, including
chronic fatigue syndrome (also called myalgic-encephalitis or the Nightingale
Syndrome) as well as chronic hepatitis B and human immunodeficiency (HIV)
diseases.  HemispheRx said today that the new EPO set of patent issuances
provides a further layer of protection for potential realization of the
economic value of this platform technology. 

HemispheRx is a pharmaceutical company (with corporate headquarters in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and manufacturing facilities in Rockville,
Maryland) engaged in the manufacture and global clinical development of new
drug entities of the NA class for chronic viral diseases and disorders of the
immune system. 

CO:  HemispheRx Biopharma, Inc.; Helix Biopharma Corp. 

ST:  Pennsylvania, Maryland 

IN:  MTC 

SU:  PDT 

04/22/96 15:40 edt