Inhibitex HIV Integrase Inhibitor Data Presented at 15th Annual Conference on Retroviruses...

Inhibitex HIV Integrase Inhibitor Data Presented at 15th Annual Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections

ATLANTA--(Business Wire)--
Inhibitex, Inc. (Nasdaq: INHX), a biopharmaceutical company
focused on the development of novel antiviral agents, announced today
that preclinical data relating to INH-001, one of several potential
lead candidates from Inhibitex's HIV integrase inhibitor program, were
presented during this week's 15th Annual Conference on Retroviruses
and Opportunistic Infections (CROI), held February 3-6, 2008, in
Boston, MA. Dr. Vasu Nair, Director of the University of Georgia
Center for Drug Discovery and head of the Department of Pharmaceutical
and Biomedical Sciences, presented data from several preclinical
studies of INH-001, which in addition to its pharmacokinetic
properties, demonstrated metabolic stability in vitro, multiple
mechanisms of action and no significant inhibition of CYP450 proteins.

"We are very encouraged by the preliminary data from these early
studies involving INH-001, as well as studies involving compounds from
a second series within our integrase inhibitor program," stated Dr.
Joseph M. Patti, Chief Scientific Officer. "We continue to evaluate
compounds from these series and anticipate completing our lead
optimization efforts and selecting a lead clinical candidate from this
program later this year."

About Inhibitex's HIV Integrase Inhibitors

Integrase inhibitors are an emerging class of antiretroviral
agents that block the insertion of viral DNA into the host cell
genome, thereby preventing further replication and the establishment
of a latent proviral reservoir. By inhibiting a different molecular
target than other classes of approved antiretroviral drugs, integrase
inhibitors have the potential to treat patients with highly resistant
strains of HIV. Further, integrase-resistant strains have already
emerged during treatment with the only currently approved integrase
inhibitor, as well as others in advanced clinical development.
Inhibitex's series of potent integrase inhibitors have previously been
shown to inhibit both the strand transfer (ST) and 3'processing steps
of HIV integrase and have the potential to possess antiviral activity
against other known integrase-resistant strains of HIV.

About Inhibitex

Inhibitex, Inc., headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, is a
biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of products that
can treat or prevent serious infections. In addition to its HIV
integrase inhibitor program, the Company's anti-viral pipeline
includes FV-100, which is being evaluated in Phase I clinical trials
for the treatment of herpes zoster (shingles), a series of HCV
polymerase inhibitors, and compounds active against cytomegalovirus
(CMV). Further, Inhibitex also has licensed certain of its
technologies to Wyeth for the development of staphylococcal vaccines
and 3M for the development of diagnostics.

For additional information about the Company, please visit
www.inhibitex.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that
involve substantial risks and uncertainties. All statements, other
than statements of historical facts included in this press release,
including those related to the potential for HIV integrase inhibitors
to treat patients with highly-resistant strains of HIV; the potential
for the Company's HIV series of integrase inhibitors to be potent or
active against known integrase-resistant HIV strains; and the
potential for clinical development of the Company's HIV integrase
inhibitors are forward-looking statements. These intentions,
expectations, or potential may not actually be achieved in the future
and various important factors could cause actual results or events to
differ materially from the forward-looking statements that the Company
makes, including the risk that these compounds will not prove
efficacious or be determined not to be safe in further clinical trials
and other including risks and cautionary statements contained
elsewhere herein and in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2006, as filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or SEC, on March 16, 2007, and its Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, June 30 and September 30,
2007 as filed with the SEC on May 10, August 9, and November 9, 2007,
respectively. Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue
reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of
the date of this press release.

There may be events in the future that the Company is unable to
predict accurately, or over which it has no control. The Company's
business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects may
change. The Company may not update these forward-looking statements,
even though its situation may change in the future, unless it has
obligations under the Federal securities laws to update and disclose
material developments related to previously disclosed information. The
Company qualifies all of the information contained in this press
release, and particularly its forward-looking statements, by these
cautionary statements.

Inhibitex(R) is a registered trademark of Inhibitex, Inc.

Inhibitex, Inc.
Russell H. Plumb
Chief Executive Officer
678-746-1136
rplumb@inhibitex.com
or
Stern Investor Relations, Inc.
Lilian Stern (Investors)
212-362-1200
lilian@sternir.com

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