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Anesiva Elects James A. Harper to Board of Directors

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 12, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Anesiva, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANSV) announced today that James A. Harper, retired group vice president, Global Marketing and Sales with Eli Lilly, has been elected to its board of directors.

"Mr. Harper has a wealth of operational and sales and marketing experience in pharmaceutical products and medical devices. He is a great addition to our board as we prepare to market Zingo(TM) -- our lead product candidate for the reduction of pain associated with venipunctures -- which could be approved later this year," said John P. McLaughlin, chief executive officer of Anesiva. "Anesiva is fortunate to have an experienced commercial team, several of whom have launched billion-dollar pharmaceutical products. The inclusion of Mr. Harper to the board will strengthen our commercial expertise even further."

James Harper brings more than 30 years of experience in the life sciences industry to Anesiva's board. He retired as group vice president, Global Marketing and Sales with Eli Lilly in 2004, where he also served on the Senior Management Forum. Previously, Mr. Harper was president of Diabetes and Growth Disorders, where he transformed the Lilly insulin business into a global diabetes business licensing an oral therapy and implementing a comprehensive strategy encompassing R&D;, medical, regulatory, marketing and business development. He more than doubled sales from $970 million to $2 billion. He was also president and CEO of the medical device maker, Advanced Cardiovascular Systems, where he led the transition from a successful start up to a very profitable business. Mr. Harper earned his BS in Biology at Vanderbilt University and MBA from the Wharton School of Business.

In related news, Anesiva announced that Charles M. Cohen, Ph.D. has stepped down from its board of directors. Dr. Cohen joined Anesiva's board of directors in December 2005 during the company's merger with AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

"We appreciate all of the many contributions that Dr. Cohen made to both AlgoRx and Anesiva in recent years, including serving as chairman of the board of AlgoRx during 2005. His sound counsel has helped guide the development of our promising pain products. On behalf of the Board and Management, we thank him for his years of service," stated Mr. McLaughlin.

About Anesiva and its Diverse Pipeline of Pain Products

Anesiva, Inc. is a late-stage biopharmaceutical company that seeks to be the leader in the development and commercialization of novel therapeutic treatments for pain. The company has two drug candidates in development for multiple pain-related indications. A New Drug Application (NDA) has been filed for the most advanced product, Zingo(TM). The second product in the pipeline, 4975, has been shown to reduce pain after only a single administration for weeks to months in multiple settings in numerous mid-stage clinical trials for site-specific, moderate-to-severe pain. Anesiva is based in South San Francisco, CA. For more information about Anesiva's leadership in the development of products for pain management, and an overview of the clinical challenges being addressed by its product candidates, go to http://www.anesiva.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward- looking statements in this press release include matters that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: whether Anesiva can successfully develop new products and the degree to which these gain market acceptance. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in Anesiva's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006.

Anesiva undertakes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after this press release. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. All forward-looking statements are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Anesiva, Inc.

Jennifer Cook Williams, Vice President, Investor Relations, of Anesiva, Inc.,
+1-650-624-9600, [email protected]

http://www.anesiva.com/

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