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Anesiva Bolsters Executive Team With Two Vice President Appointments

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Aug 16, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Anesiva, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANSV) today announced the appointment of Samantha R. Miller to the position of vice president, business development and the promotion of Jean-Frederic Viret, Ph.D., to the position of vice president, finance. Ms. Miller will have responsibility for managing all business and corporate development functions and in-licensing and out-licensing initiatives as well as establishing strategic collaborations. Dr. Viret will continue to oversee all finance functions related to treasury, budgeting and SEC reporting.

"Samantha's experience creating industry-leading collaborations will be particularly valuable as we seek to partner with other pharmaceutical companies to leverage and broaden our growing pipeline of pain management product candidates," said James Huang, president of Anesiva.

"Jean's promotion recognizes his commendable leadership of the overall internal activities of the finance department as well as his command of the evolving SEC and Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) regulations governing public companies including Sarbanes-Oxley and recent stock-option expensing rules," stated Richard P. Powers, vice president and chief financial officer of Anesiva.

Ms. Miller joins Anesiva from Theravance, Inc., which she joined in 2002 and most recently served as senior director of business development and as the leader of the gastrointestinal program. At Theravance, she was instrumental in the negotiation and execution of four major alliances as well as several manufacturing, in-licensing and other collaborations. From 1999 to 2002, she served as director of business development at Nektar (formerly Inhale), and prior to that, she served as a senior director of business development at Scios Pharmaceuticals and as manager of business development at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, as well as associate product manager at Procter & Gamble and the Salk Institute of Biological Studies. Ms. Miller received an MBA degree with a concentration in Marketing from the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business and an MS degree in molecular biology and immunology from the School of Medicine at the University of Rochester. She completed her BS degree in biochemistry and cell biology at the University of California San Diego.

Dr. Viret has been with Anesiva since 2002, most recently in the role of senior director of finance, where his responsibilities include managing the finance operations relating to treasury, budgeting and SEC and internal reporting. From 2000 to 2002, Jean was associate director of finance at Tularik (now Amgen), and from 1997 to 2000, Jean was a senior associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dr. Viret received an MBA degree from the Johnson School at Cornell University, a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology from the Universite Louis Pasteur and an undergraduate degree in engineering from the Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine. Jean completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was a visiting fellow in molecular biology at Harvard University. Additionally, Jean is a certified public accountant.

About Anesiva and its Diverse Pipeline of Pain Products

Anesiva, Inc., formerly Corgentech 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 three drug candidates in development for multiple pain-related indications, the most advanced of which, 3268, has completed Phase 3 clinical trials. 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. 1207, a new local anesthetic that is undergoing preclinical development as a topical local anesthetic, is anticipated to enter the clinic in 2006. 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.

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, without limitation, projected timing of FDA filings and clinical data announcements and other 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 Corgentech 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 quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 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, +1-650-624-9600, or
[email protected]

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