AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Names Richard King Chief Executive Officer

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the appointment of Richard King as president and chief executive officer. Mr. King will lead AcelRx's efforts to advance the Company's portfolio of products using its novel NanoTab™ platform technology.

"Richard's significant commercial and operational experience in the pharmaceutical industry is an excellent and timely match for AcelRx," said Thomas Schreck, founder and chairman of AcelRx's board of directors. "His track record of success with companies including Tercica and Kos Pharmaceuticals make him an ideal leader as we seek to advance our portfolio of late-stage products."

AcelRx is developing novel products that address unmet needs in post-operative pain and cancer breakthrough pain; in addition, AcelRx is also developing a first-in-class mild sedation, anxiolysis and analgesia product with fast onset for office-based therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

"I am delighted to be joining AcelRx at this exciting moment in the history of the company," stated Mr. King. "AcelRx is well positioned to become a highly differentiated and significant player in the analgesia and anxiolysis marketplace, with a focus on taking a portfolio of late-stage pharmaceutical products to commercialization based on proprietary NanoTab platform technology for sublingual delivery."

Previously, Mr. King was president and general manager of Tercica, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on endocrinology and neurology products, acquired by Ipsen SA in 2008. Prior to joining Tercica, from 2002 to 2006 he served as executive vice president, commercial operations of Kos Pharmaceuticals, Inc. a rapidly growing specialty pharmaceutical company focused on cardiovascular products, acquired by Abbott in 2006. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. King was senior vice president of commercial operations at Solvay Pharmaceuticals. Prior to 2000, Mr. King held various positions of increasing responsibility in sales, marketing and business development at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Lederle Laboratories Ltd.

About AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of new therapies for the treatment of pain and other conditions where there is an unmet need for improved safety and efficacy. The company applies its proprietary dosage form and delivery technologies to enhance the safety, therapeutic benefit and commercial attractiveness of currently approved compounds. AcelRx pipeline products include: ARX-01, the Sufentanil NanoTabTM PCA System, which is a non-invasive, sublingual, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system for the treatment of post-operative pain in the hospital setting with significant advantages over intravenous PCA ; ARX-02, a sublingual sufentanil NanoTab product with fast onset- and fast offset-of-action for the treatment of cancer breakthrough pain (BTP) with significant advantages over current fentanyl-based BTP products; and ARX-03, a sublingual sufentanil/triazolam NanoTab product for use in producing mild sedation, anxiolysis and analgesia, with fast onset for office-based diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. For additional information about AcelRx Pharmaceuticals visit http://www.acelrx.com.

SOURCE AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.