Exhibit 10.24

                                 AMENDMENT NO. 2
                             TO EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENT

            Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., f/k/a Enzon, Inc. (the "Company") and
Arthur J. Higgins (the "Executive") agree to amend the Employment Agreement
between them dated as of May 9, 2001, and amended as of May 23, 2001 (the
"Agreement"), as follows:

1.    Section 9(d)(i) of the Agreement is hereby amended to read in its entirety
      as follows:

            "(i) "Board Change" which, for purposes of this Agreement, shall
            have occurred if, over any twenty-four month period, a majority of
            the seats (other than vacant seats) on the Company's Board were to
            be occupied by individuals who were neither (A) nominated by at
            least one-half (1/2) of the directors then in office (but excluding,
            for purposes of determining directors then in office, any director
            whose initial assumption of office occurs as a result of either an
            actual or threatened election contest, or other actual or threatened
            solicitation of proxies or consents by or on behalf of a Person (as
            defined herein) other than the Company or its board of directors);
            nor (B) appointed by directors so nominated, or"

2.    Section 9(d)(iii) of the Agreement is hereby amended to read in its
      entirety as follows:

            "(iii) a consolidation of the Company with another entity, or a
            merger of the Company with another entity in which neither the
            Company nor a corporation that, prior to the merger, was a
            subsidiary of the Company shall be the surviving entity; or"

3.    Section 10(g) of the Agreement is hereby amended as follows:

      (a)   Sections 10(g)(iv) and 10(g)(v) are hereby deleted.

      (b)   Section 10(g)(vi) is hereby renumbered as Section 10(g)(iv).

      (c)   The first sentence of the last paragraph of Section 10(g) is amended
            to read in its entirety as follows:

            "In the event the Executive becomes entitled to payments under this
            Section 10(g) and/or the accelerated vesting of options under
            Section 11 hereof, the Company shall cause its independent auditors
            promptly to review, at the Company's expense, the applicability of
            Section 4999 of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") to such
            payments and/or vesting."

4.    The Agreement is hereby amended by adding a new Section 11 thereto, which
      shall read as follows:

            11.   Effect of Change of Control. In the event of a Change of
                  Control, in addition to any other consequences provided for in
                  this Agreement,

                  (a)   all shares of restricted stock and restricted stock
                        units awarded to Executive shall fully vest immediately
                        prior to the Change of Control; and

                  (b)   all options to acquire shares of the Company held by the
                        Executive shall become


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                        fully vested immediately prior to the effective date of
                        the Change of Control. Executive shall have a reasonable
                        opportunity to exercise all or any portion of such
                        options prior to the effective date of the Change of
                        Control, and any options not exercised prior to the
                        effective date of the Change of Control shall terminate
                        as of the effective date of the Change of Control and
                        will be of no further force or effect. To the extent
                        that this Section 11 is inconsistent with the provisions
                        of the relevant plan and granting instruments under
                        which such options were issued, the Company and
                        Executive agree that such inconsistent provisions are
                        hereby superceded and the provisions of this Section 11
                        shall govern.

5.    The Agreement is hereby further amended by renumbering original Section 11
      as Section 12. All references in the Agreement originally to Section 11
      shall be changed to be references to Section 12.

6.    Except as amended hereby, the Agreement shall remain in full force and
      effect. This Amendment may be executed in counterparts and each of such
      counterparts shall for all purposes be deemed to be an original, and such
      counterparts shall together constitute one and the same instrument. The
      parties hereto have executed this Amendment as of December 3, 2003.

                         ENZON PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.


                         By:    /s/ Kenneth J. Zuerblis
                            ---------------------------------------------------
                            Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer


                         By:    /s/ Arthur J. Higgins
                            ---------------------------------------------------


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