MAXIM PHARMACEUTICALS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF RICHARD A. MAFRICA AS VICE PRESIDENT COMMERCIALIZATION

MAXIM PHARMACEUTICALS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF RICHARD A. MAFRICA AS VICE PRESIDENT COMMERCIALIZATION SAN DIEGO, July 27, 2004 - Maxim Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MAXM) (SSE: MAXM) today announced the appointment of Richard A. Mafrica, 47, to the newly created position of Vice President Commercialization. Mr. Mafrica joins Maxim with over twenty years of healthcare related sales and marketing experience including a fourteen-year tenure with Amgen, Inc. Most recently Mr. Mafrica served as the Senior Director, Oncology Sales and Marketing, playing a key role in Amgens' commercial oncology success. He has lead national oncology sales teams of over 300 sales personnel with responsibility for over $2 billion in oncology sales. During his career Mr. Mafrica has successfully launched a number of oncology products. Prior to his tenure at Amgen, Mr. Mafrica held sales and marketing positions with Cardiomedics and Wyeth-Ayerst. "Maxim is very pleased to add Richard Mafrica to our executive team as Vice President Commercialization," stated Larry G. Stambaugh, Chairman and CEO. "Rick's extensive and successful experience in sales and marketing at Amgen will be immensely valuable as he assembles a leading team to prepare Maxim for the planned commercialization of our first drug, Ceplene®. His industry knowledge and experience, coupled with his long-term oncology contacts, provide confidence that Maxim's commercialization efforts will proceed smoothly and successfully." As Vice President Commercialization, Mr. Mafrica will be responsible for Maxim's planned transition of its lead pharmaceutical drug candidate, Ceplene®, from late-stage clinical trials into commercialization. Maxim's announced strategy is to market Ceplene in Europe through a partnership with a pharmaceutical company yet to be determined, and to market Ceplene in the United States using its own sales force. The Company is completing a Phase 3 clinical trial for advanced malignant melanoma with liver metastasis that will be used for regulatory filing in the US and is pending regulatory approval in Europe. Ceplene is an investigational drug and has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any international regulatory agency. Maxim Overview Maxim Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharmaceutical company with a diverse pipeline of therapeutic candidates for life-threatening cancers and liver diseases. Maxim's research and development programs are designed to offer hope to patients by developing safe and effective therapeutic candidates that have the potential to extend survival while maintaining quality of life. Maxim's lead drug candidate Ceplene® (histamine dihydrochloride) is designed to prevent or inhibit oxidative stress, thereby reversing immune suppression and protecting critical immune cells. In November 2003, Maxim filed an application for market authorization in Europe for approval to market Ceplene for the treatment of advanced malignant melanoma. Ceplene is currently being tested in a Phase 3 cancer clinical trial for advanced malignant melanoma with liver metastasis. Maxim recently completed a Phase 3 clinical trial of Ceplene designed to extend leukemia-free survival for acute myeloid leukemia patients in remission. Phase 2 trials of Ceplene are also underway for the treatment of hepatitis C and advanced renal cell carcinoma. Maxim is also developing an oral formulation of histamine for the potential treatment of chronic liver diseases. More than 2,000 patients from 20 countries have participated in 17 completed and ongoing clinical trials of Ceplene. In addition to Ceplene, Maxim is developing small-molecule inhibitors and activators of programmed cell death, also known as apoptosis, which may serve as drug candidates for cancer, cardiovascular disease and other degenerative diseases. Ceplene and the apoptosis inducers are investigational drugs and have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or any international regulatory agency. This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include statements regarding the efficacy, safety and intended utilization of Ceplene, and the apoptosis inducers, and the conduct, results and timelines associated with the Company's clinical trials. Such statements are only predictions and the Company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include the risk that products that appeared promising in early research and clinical trials do not demonstrate safety or efficacy in larger-scale clinical trials, the risk that the Company will not obtain approval to market its products, and the risk that the company may not be able to recruit and retain key employees. These factors and others are more fully discussed in the Company's periodic reports and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Note: The Maxim logo is a trademark of the Company. Editor's Note: This release is also available on the Internet at http://www.maxim.com. Contacts: Larry G. Stambaugh Chief Executive Officer Anthony E. Altig Chief Financial Officer (858) 453-4040 Aline Schimmel (Investors) Burns McClellan (212) 213-0006 Sean Collins (Media) Valerie Bent (Media) CCG Investor Relations (818) 789-0100 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2004/07/27/20040727BIT20010/wkr0001.pdf