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| |  New Licensing Agreement for Epilepsy Drug BRANFORD, Conn., and PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 26, 1996 -- Neurogen Corporation (Nasdaq: NRGN) and Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a division of American Home Products (NYSE: AHP) today announced that Wyeth-Ayerst has licensed from Neurogen its world-wide commercial rights to ADCI, a small molecule pharmaceutical that Neurogen has been developing for the treatment of epilepsy and related disorders. Under the arrangement, Neurogen may receive up to $12.5 million in the form of license fees, equity investments and milestone payments and will also receive royalty payments on world-wide sales of ADCI. ADCI acts both as a sodium channel antagonist and functional NMDA antagonist. In animal models, ADCI has demonstrated a broad spectrum of anticonvulsant activity, coupled with a low incidence of side effects when compared to the standard epileptic drugs. To broaden its portfolio of neuropharmaceutical drug programs in 1992, Neurogen obtained an exclusive license to ADCI from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and has been developing the drug for epilepsy and other convulsant disorders. The agreement announced today constitutes a sub-license by Neurogen to Wyeth-Ayerst of its rights to ADCI as well as its rights in improved processes for preparing ADCI. "We are very pleased that Wyeth-Ayerst is taking on the further development of ADCI," said Harry H. Penner, Jr., Neurogen's President and CEO. "This agreement confirms our belief in ADCI's potential as a new and better drug for epilepsy, draws on Wyeth-Ayerst's expertise in developing the commercial synthesis of the drug as well as its clinical development resources and frees Neurogen's resources to pursue our other programs." "We are enthusiastic about taking ADCI into development," commented Robert I. Levy, M.D., President of Wyeth-Ayerst Research. "ADCI's novel mechanism of action and very positive preclinical findings (which tend to be predictive of human efficacy) may result in better seizure control for epileptic patients underserved by currently available therapies." Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories is a major research-oriented pharmaceutical company with leading products in the areas of women's health care, cardiovascular and metabolic disease therapies, central nervous system drugs, anti-inflammatory agents, vaccines, and generic pharmaceuticals. American Home Products is one of the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical and health care products companies and is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications. It is also a leader in vaccines, biotechnology, crop protection products, animal health care and medical devices. Neurogen is a leading neuropharmaceutical company engaged in the design and development of a new generation of drugs promising improved treatment for a broad variety of neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety, obesity, schizophrenia, sleep disorders, stress-related disorders, dementia, depression and epilepsy. Neurogen develops new drug candidates through the integration of cutting edge neurobiology, medicinal chemistry and molecular biology, with its AIDD (Accelerated Intelligent Drug Design) program, a proprietary blend of combinatorial chemistry with high throughput screening, robotics and informatics. The information in this press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as detailed from time to time in the SEC filings of Neurogen and American Home Products including the most recent Form 10-K. Actual results may differ materially from the statements made as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, risks associated with the inherent uncertainty of pharmaceutical research, difficulties or delays in development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of any prospective drug candidates, adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of such drug candidates, advancement of competitive products, patent, product liability and third party reimbursement risks associated with the pharmaceutical industry and, in the case of Neurogen, dependence on corporate partners and sufficiency of cash to fund planned operations.
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