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Anesiva Announces Planned Rights Offering

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 26, 2009 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Anesiva, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANSV), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on pain management, announced today that it is planning to commence a rights offering of notes to its stockholders, which, would if fully subscribed, produce gross proceeds to Anesiva of an aggregate principal amount of $3,000,000.

Anesiva will be distributing non-transferable rights to subscribe for and purchase notes to common stockholders of record as of 5:00 p.m., Pacific time, on March 27, 2009 (the "Record Date"). In the offering, each common stockholder will receive a right to purchase a portion of the principal amount of notes, for each share of common stock of Anesiva owned as of 5:00 p.m., Pacific time, on the Record Date, either as a holder of record or as a beneficial owner of shares held of record on his or her behalf by brokers, dealers, custodian banks or other nominees. Stockholders will be able to exercise their rights to purchase notes in the offering until 5:00 p.m., Pacific time, on Tuesday, April 28, 2009, the expected expiration date of the rights offering. Anesiva, in its sole discretion, may extend the period for exercising the subscription rights.

A copy of the final prospectus supplement relating to the rights offering and additional materials relating to the rights offering are expected to be mailed on or about April 1, 2009 to common stockholders of Anesiva as of the Record Date.

Further information regarding the rights offering will be contained in the preliminary prospectus supplement which Anesiva has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 26, 2009 and the final prospectus supplement which Anesiva anticipates will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 1, 2009. Anesiva expects to utilize the proceeds from the notes for working capital, to satisfy certain existing obligations and general corporate purposes.

This announcement shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of Anesiva, Inc. To the extent an offering is made, it will only be made by means of a prospectus contained in a registration statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

About Anesiva

Anesiva, Inc. seeks to be a leader in the development and commercialization of novel pharmaceutical products for pain management. The company's lead product candidate is Adlea, a novel small molecule formulation of capsaicin that is currently in development for the management of acute pain following orthopedic surgeries. Adlea has been shown in clinical trials to provide extended pain relief after only a single administration in multiple indications for site-specific, acute and chronic, moderate-to-severe pain.

In December 2008, Anesiva announced that a Phase 3 clinical trial of Adlea achieved its primary efficacy endpoint of reduced post-surgical pain versus placebo (p=0.03) following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) at four to 48 hours after surgery. The trial also met its key secondary endpoint with Adlea demonstrating a highly significant reduction in opioid medication consumption compared to placebo (p=0.005).

The Phase 3 TKA trial, known as ACTIVE-2, also showed that Adlea's safety profile of adverse events, wound healing, and wound sensory function were similar to placebo over the study duration.

Anesiva is based in South San Francisco, CA. For more information, go to www.anesiva.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for historical information, this press release may be deemed to contain "forward-looking" statements. Words such as "plan," "commence," "seek," "extend," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Anesiva desires to avail itself of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (the "Act") and is including this cautionary statement for the express purpose of availing itself of the protection afforded by the Act. Anesiva undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement in this or any prior forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

SOURCE Anesiva, Inc.

http://www.anesiva.com