Alteon Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2005

Alteon Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter Ended
March 31, 2005 


PARSIPPANY, N.J., May 10  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Alteon Inc. (AMEX:ALT)
announced today a net loss of $4,642,299 for the three months ended March 31,
2005.  This compares to a net loss of $3,734,993 for the same period in 2004.
The net loss applicable to common stockholders, which includes a non-cash
preferred stock dividend, was $5,713,877 or $0.10 per basic/diluted share for
the three months ended March 31, 2005, as compared to $4,730,846 or $0.12 per
basic/diluted share for the same period in 2004.

Research and development expenses were $3,641,100 for the three months ended
March 31, 2005 as compared to $2,684,135 for the three months ended March 31,
2004.  This is an increase of $956,965 or 35.7%, which is primarily attributed
to higher clinical costs and personnel and personnel-related expenses
associated with our Phase 2b trial of alagebrium for the treatment of systolic
hypertension, known as SPECTRA, and increased pre-clinical expenses related to
additional toxicity studies.  General and administrative expenses were
$1,100,348 for the three months ended March 31, 2005 as compared to $1,140,045
for the three months ended March 31, 2004.  Although general and administrative
expenses remained relatively flat, 2005 includes approximately $200,000 in
Sarbanes-Oxley compliance fees offset by lower business development and patent
fees.  Cash and cash equivalents at March 31, 2005, totaled $15.4 million.

Separately, Alteon announced that Elizabeth O'Dell, Vice President of Finance,
has announced her intention to retire effective May 18, 2005.  Ms. O'Dell
joined Alteon in February 1992 as Controller and became Vice President of
Finance in October 1993.  "Liz has been a valued associate for 13 years," said
Kenneth I. Moch, President and Chief Executive Officer.  "She has helped manage
the company through the many complex cycles of a biotechnology firm. We will
indeed miss her skills, but more than that we will miss her consistency and
strength of character.  We wish her well."

Alteon also announced that Mary Phelan, Director of Finance and Financial
Reporting, will serve as the Company's Principal Accounting Officer.  Ms.
Phelan joined Alteon in July 2000 as Assistant Controller, and has served as
Controller since October 2003. She is a CPA who has held several accounting
positions, including Senior Accountant at KPMG, LLP.

Alteon will hold an investor update conference call tomorrow, Wednesday, May
11, 2005, at 4:00 p.m. ET.  The dial-in telephone number for the conference
call will be 1-888-208-1812.  International participants may call
[phone].  Alteon's Annual Meeting of Stockholders will be held at 9:00
A.M., local time, on June 29, 2005, at The Hanover Marriott, 1401 Route 10
East, Whippany, New Jersey 07981.

About Alteon

Alteon is developing several new classes of drugs that have shown the potential
to reverse or slow down diseases of aging and complications of diabetes.  These
compounds appear to have an impact on a fundamental pathological process caused
by the progressive formation of protein-glucose complexes called Advanced
Glycation End-products (A.G.E.s).  The formation and crosslinking of A.G.E.s
lead to a loss of flexibility and function in body tissues and organs and have
been shown to be a causative factor in many age-related diseases and diabetic
complications.  Alteon has created a library of novel classes of compounds
targeting the A.G.E. pathway.

Alteon's lead compound alagebrium chloride (formerly ALT-711), the only A.G.E.
Crosslink Breaker in advanced human testing, has demonstrated promising results
in several Phase 2 trials and is being developed for systolic hypertension,
heart failure and erectile dysfunction.  Approximately 1,300 patients have been
involved in alagebrium's human clinical trials to date, of whom approximately
1,000 have received active compound.  Clinical trials of alagebrium include the
Phase 2b systolic hypertension study, SPECTRA (Systolic Pressure Efficacy and
Safety Trial of Alagebrium), the Phase 2a heart failure study, PEDESTAL
(Patients with Impaired Ejection Fraction and Diastolic Dysfunction: Efficacy
and Safety Trial of ALagebrium), the Phase 2a study EMERALD (Evaluation of
Alagebrium in Erectile Dysfunction in Diabetic Males on PDE5 Inhibitors), as
well as a fourth study exploring mechanism of action in endothelial
dysfunction.

In February 2005, Alteon voluntarily and temporarily suspended enrollment of
new patients into the Company's ongoing alagebrium clinical studies pending
receipt of additional pre-clinical toxicity data.  In May 2005, the Company
announced encouraging interim results from these ongoing toxicity tests, and
announced its intention to conduct an interim analysis of data from the SPECTRA
trial; the results of both are expected approximately mid-year 2005. The
Company expects that decisions regarding resumption of enrollment into each of
the trials will be made at that time.

For more detailed information about alagebrium, please visit the scientific
publications section of the Alteon website, http://www.alteon.com/.

Any statements contained in this press release that relate to future plans,
events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and
uncertainties including, but not limited to, those relating to technology and
product development (including the possibility that early clinical trial
results may not be predictive of results that will be obtained in large-scale
testing or that any clinical trials will not demonstrate sufficient safety and
efficacy to obtain requisite approvals or will not result in marketable
products), regulatory approval processes, intellectual property rights and
litigation, competitive products, ability to obtain financing, and other risks
identified in Alteon's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The
information contained in this press release is accurate as of the date
indicated.  Actual results, events or performance may differ materially. Alteon
undertakes no obligation to publicly release the result of any revision to
these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or
circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of
unanticipated events.

                               Alteon Inc.
                         Statements of Operations
                               (Unaudited)

                                                Three Months Ended
                                                     March 31,
                                               2005           2004
  Income:
   Investment Income                         $99,149        $37,366
   Other Income                                  ---         51,821

    Total Income                              99,149         89,187

  Expenses:
   Research and Development                3,641,100      2,684,135
   General and Administrative              1,100,348      1,140,045

    Total Expenses                         4,741,448      3,824,180

  Net Loss                                (4,642,299)    (3,734,993)

  Preferred Stock Dividends                1,071,578        995,853

  Net Loss Applicable to
   Common Stockholders                   $(5,713,877)   $(4,730,846)

  Basic/Diluted Net Loss
   Per Share Applicable to
   Common Stockholders                        $(0.10)        $(0.12)

  Weighted Average Common
   Shares Used in Computing
   Basic/Diluted Net Loss
   Per Share Applicable to
   Common Stockholders                    56,547,028     40,471,349



                       Selected Balance Sheet Data
                               (Unaudited)

                                           March 31,     December 31,
                                             2005            2004

  Cash and Cash Equivalents              $15,415,788    $11,175,762

  Total Assets                            16,198,106     11,642,395

  Accumulated Deficit                   (211,426,527)  (205,712,650)

  Total Stockholders' Equity              14,002,623      9,046,920


DATASOURCE: Alteon Inc.



CONTACT:  Susan M. Pietropaolo, Director, Corporate Communications &

Investor Relations of Alteon, [phone],  



Web site:  http://www.alteon.com/ 

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