Anesiva Appoints Daniel Janney to Board of Directors

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Feb. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Anesiva,
Inc. (Nasdaq: ANSV) announced today the appointment of Daniel S. Janney to the
company's board of directors. Mr. Janney previously served on Anesiva's board
from November 2000 through December 2005, when he transitioned off the board
following the merger of Anesiva and AlgoRx Pharmaceuticals.
"Dan was an excellent contributor to the Anesiva board of directors, and
we are very pleased to welcome him back, especially at such an important time
in the company's evolution as we prepare to commercialize our first product,
Zingo(TM), in the second quarter of 2008," stated John P. McLaughlin, chief
executive officer of Anesiva. "We are fortunate to have a strong board of
directors at Anesiva with a broad mix of experiences including individuals who
are experts in their fields of pain management and biopharma product
marketing. Dan serves on the boards of multiple bioscience companies, and we
look forward to drawing upon the extensive leadership experience he brings to
the table."
Since 1996, Daniel S. Janney has been a managing director of Alta
Partners, a venture capital firm investing in information technologies and
life sciences companies and was a co-founder of the Alta BioPharma effort. In
addition to Anesiva, he currently serves on the board of directors of a number
of companies, including Acureon Pharmaceuticals, Alba Therapeutics, ChemGenex
Pharmaceuticals, Kemia, Phenomix Corporation and ViroBay. He has been directly
involved in the funding and development of over 25 life sciences companies.
Previously, Mr. Janney was a senior investment banker at Montgomery Securities
focusing on life science companies, prior to which he was at Bankers Trust
Company in its leveraged buyout/private equity group. Mr. Janney received a
B.A. in History from Georgetown University and an M.B.A. from the Anderson
School at the University of California, Los Angeles.
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 pharmaceutical
products for pain management. The company has one FDA-approved product,
Zingo(TM), for the reduction of pain associated with peripheral venous access
procedures in children ages three to 18. In clinical trials, the most common
adverse reactions to Zingo were redness (erythema), red dots (petechiae) and
swelling (edema). The second product in Anesiva's pipeline, Adlea(TM), 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, acute and chronic, 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
www.anesiva.com.
Anesiva 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: the timing and results of our clinical trials, whether
Anesiva is able to manufacture its products on commercially reasonable terms
and the degree to which Zingo gains 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 quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the
quarter ended September 30, 2007.
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.

Carol DeGuzman, Sr. Dir., Investor Relations of Anesiva, Inc.,
+1-650-624-9600, investors@anesiva.com