EXHIBIT 99.2


Progenics Reports Methylnaltrexone Activity in Reversing
Opioid-Induced Urinary Retention; MNTX May Also Reduce
HIV's Ability to Infect Cells in Opioid-Treated Patients

    TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2003--Progenics
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGNX) today announced that the
investigational drug methylnaltrexone (MNTX) relieved opioid-induced
urinary retention in a phase 2 clinical trial. Inability to urinate is
particularly prevalent in men receiving opioid pain therapy after
surgery and may require the insertion of a catheter into the bladder
to permit patients to void. The findings from this study are
noteworthy, because unlike a standard opioid-receptor antagonist, MNTX
was able to restore bladder function without reversing the central
nervous system effects of the opioid. The clinical results are
scheduled to be presented today during a featured session at the
International Society for Anaesthetic Pharmacology meeting in San
Francisco.
    Opioids relieve the perception of pain by interacting with
specialized receptors in the brain and spinal cord, collectively the
central nervous system (CNS). When opioids activate these same
receptors outside the CNS, they cause side effects in the
gastrointestinal tract (constipation), the bladder (urinary retention)
and the skin (itching). MNTX is designed to reverse the side effects
of opioid pain therapy by displacing opioids from these peripheral
receptors while leaving CNS receptors unaffected.
    "This clinical study supports the hypothesis that a significant
component of opioid-induced bladder dysfunction is also due to actions
outside the CNS and is reversible by MNTX," said, Carl E. Rosow, M.D.,
Ph.D., the paper's presenter and Associate Professor of Anaesthesia,
Harvard Medical School, and an anesthesiologist at the Massachusetts
General Hospital. "MNTX may have important advantages over other
agents that are currently used to reverse the effects of opioids. Our
results showed that the standard opioid antagonist naloxone relieved
urinary retention, but it also crossed the blood-brain barrier (BBB)
and reversed opioid CNS effects. MNTX circulates in the bloodstream
and does not cross the BBB; therefore, its actions are likely due to
blockade of opioid receptors in the smooth muscle of the bladder and
possibly other peripheral sites. To our knowledge, this local opioid
effect on the bladder has not previously been demonstrated in a
clinical study."
    In a double-blind, cross-over phase 2 study, single doses of MNTX,
naloxone or placebo were given to healthy male volunteers who had
bladder dysfunction induced by an infusion of remifentanil.
Remifentanil is an ultra-short-acting opioid that was administered at
0.15 mcg/kg/min - a rate sufficient to produce analgesia, sedation,
and some slowing of breathing. MNTX increased the volume of urine
voided in five of 11 subjects and reversed the fall in bladder
pressure in three of 11. Intravenous administration of MNTX at 0.3
mg/kg was well tolerated, did not reverse the CNS effects of
remifentanil, and no serious drug-related adverse events were
reported. Remifentanil administration caused nausea and vomiting,
which appeared to be diminished when patients also received MNTX as
opposed to placebo or naloxone.
    "Our initial finding that a single dose of MNTX shows activity in
opioid-induced urinary dysfunction is particularly gratifying, because
the test was so stringent," said Dr. Rosow. "The high, continuous dose
of remifentanil used in this study was sufficient to produce complete
urinary retention in 18 of the 25 study sessions. Based on our
encouraging preliminary results, the clinical application of MNTX for
opioid-induced urinary retention deserves further study."
    MNTX is currently the subject of a phase 2 clinical trial to
evaluate its ability to relieve post-operative ileus, a debilitating
paralysis of the gastrointestinal tract that may occur after surgery.
Reversal of urinary retention is a secondary endpoint in that study.
Progenics believes that there is currently no approved therapy that
reverses opioid-induced bladder dysfunction that does not also
counteract the beneficial effects of opioids on pain.

    MNTX blocked opioid-induced increases in HIV replication in
in-vitro studies

    Progenics also announced today that MNTX impeded opioid-induced
increases in replication of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV),
the causative agent of AIDS. In cell-culture experiments, MNTX largely
blocked the doubling of CCR5 expression and tripling of HIV
replication that occur when morphine was added to a culture of human
macrophages, cells that are primary targets of HIV infection. The
research was conducted by the University of Chicago and the Children's
Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and is scheduled to be presented at
the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists
(ASA) which starts tomorrow in San Francisco. The study will be
published in the December issue of the Journal of Pharmacology and
Experimental Therapeutics.
    "Individuals who are prescribed opioids, drugs such as Percocet,
OxyContin, or morphine, for the pain of advanced AIDS may experience
an increase in viral load, because opioids have been shown to make
certain immune system cells more vulnerable to infection by HIV," said
Jonathan Moss, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Vice Chairman for Research,
Department of Anesthesia and Critical Care, University of Chicago and
the primary author of the ASA presentation. "We believe that MNTX may
reduce the ability of HIV to infect cells in AIDS patients treated
with opioids or in HIV-infected individuals on methadone-maintenance
programs. We showed that very small amounts of MNTX, well within the
active therapeutic range, blocked opioid-induced increases in CCR5
receptors and HIV infection."
    To infect a cell, HIV must sequentially utilize two specific
cell-surface receptors, CD4 and CCR5, as portals of entry. While
opioids relieve the pain of advanced AIDS, they appear to enhance HIV
infectivity by increasing the expression of CCR5 receptors, thus
increasing the susceptibility of cells to this viral infection.
    "MNTX has the potential to resolve some major limitations that HIV
patients receiving opioids and their physicians have been grappling
with for a long time," added Dr. Moss. "By treating patients with
MNTX, the analgesic effect of the opioid is maintained, while the
debilitating constipation caused by opioids is treated, and further
opioid-related viral infectivity may be prevented. We are currently
conducting clinical studies with HIV-positive methadone users and
healthy volunteers to determine the potential therapeutic role of
MNTX."
    MNTX is the subject of a phase 3 clinical trial to evaluate its
ability to treat opioid-induced constipation in patients with advanced
medical illnesses. Phase 2 clinical data presented in June at the
American Society of Clinical Oncology demonstrated that, in a majority
of patients, MNTX relieved this form of constipation with no reversal
of pain palliation, and no serious drug-related adverse events were
reported.

    Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., of Tarrytown, NY, is a
biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development and
commercialization of innovative therapeutic products to treat the
unmet medical needs of patients with debilitating conditions and
life-threatening diseases. The Company has four product candidates in
clinical development and several others in preclinical development. In
symptom management and supportive care, the Company is developing
methylnaltrexone (MNTX) to treat the debilitating side effects of
opioid-based pain relievers without interfering with pain relief. MNTX
is in pivotal phase 3 clinical testing for treatment of opioid-induced
constipation in patients with advanced medical illness and may be the
Company's first product candidate to be approved for marketing. In the
area of HIV infection, the Company is developing viral-entry
inhibitors, including PRO 542, a genetically engineered molecule
designed to selectively target and neutralize HIV (in phase 2
studies), and PRO 140, a monoclonal antibody designed to target the
HIV co-receptor CCR5 (in preclinical development). In addition, the
Company is conducting research on a novel prophylactic HIV vaccine.
The Company is developing immunotherapies for prostate cancer,
including monoclonal antibodies directed against prostate-specific
membrane antigen (PSMA), a protein found on the surface of prostate
cancer cells. The Company is also developing vaccines designed to
stimulate an immune response to PSMA. A recombinant PSMA vaccine is in
phase 1 clinical testing. The Company is also studying a cancer
vaccine, GMK, in phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of
malignant melanoma.

    DISCLOSURE NOTICE: The information contained in this document is
current as of October 10, 2003. This press release contains
forward-looking statements. Any statements contained herein that are
not statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements.
When the Company uses the words 'anticipates,' 'plans,' 'expects' and
similar expressions, it is identifying forward-looking statements.
Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which
may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to
be materially different from those expressed or implied by
forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the
uncertainties associated with product development, the risk that
clinical trials will not commence when or proceed as planned, the
risks and uncertainties associated with dependence upon the actions of
the Company's corporate, academic and other collaborators and of
government regulatory agencies, the risk that products that appear
promising in early clinical trials do not demonstrate efficacy in
larger-scale clinical trials, the uncertainty of future profitability
and other factors set forth more fully in the Company's Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2002, its
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarter ended June 30,
2003, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, to which investors are referred for further information.
In particular, the Company cannot assure you that any of the their
programs will result in a commercial product.
    Progenics does not have a policy of updating or revising
forward-looking statements and assumes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of
new information or future events or developments. Thus it should not
be assumed that the Company's silence over time means that actual
events are bearing out as expressed or implied in such forward-looking
statements.

    Editor's Note: Additional information on Progenics is available at
http://www.progenics.com

    CONTACT: Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Tarrytown
             Richard W. Krawiec, Ph.D., 914-789-2800
             rkrawiec@progenics.com