Pharmasset to Present at the Leerink Swann Hot Topics Roundtable Conference

PRINCETON, N.J., Feb. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharmasset, Inc. (Nasdaq: VRUS) announces that management will present at the Leerink Swann Hot Topics Roundtable Conference being held February 16 - 17, 2011 at the Roosevelt Hotel, New York, NY. Schaefer Price, Pharmasset's President and Chief Executive Officer, will provide a review of the Company's HCV drug pipeline at the conference at 1:30 PM (ET) and Dr. Michelle Berrey, Pharmasset's Chief Medical Officer will be participating in an HCV panel discussion at 4:10 PM (ET).

To access a simultaneous webcast of Mr. Price's overview via the internet, log on to the "Events & Presentations" section of the Investor Center on Pharmasset's website at http://investor.pharmasset.com/events.cfm. Please connect to the website at least ten minutes prior to the start of the presentation to ensure adequate time for a reliable connection and any software download that may be necessary for the webcast. A replay of the webcast will be available on Pharmasset's website for thirty days following the conference.

About Pharmasset

Pharmasset is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing novel drugs to treat viral infections. Pharmasset's primary focus is on the development of oral therapeutics for the treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV). Our research and development efforts focus on nucleoside/tide analogs, a class of compounds which act as alternative substrates for the viral polymerase, thus inhibiting viral replication. We currently have three clinical-stage product candidates. RG7128, a cytosine nucleoside analog for chronic HCV infection, is in two Phase 2b clinical studies in combination with Pegasys® plus Copegus® and is also in the INFORM studies, the first series of studies designed to assess the potential of combinations of small molecules without Pegasys® and Copegus® to treat chronic HCV. These clinical studies are being conducted through a strategic collaboration with Roche. Our other clinical stage HCV candidates include PSI-7977, an unpartnered uracil nucleotide analog that is currently dosing in two Phase 2b studies in patients with HCV genotypes 1, 2, or 3, and PSI-938, an unpartnered guanosine nucleotide analog which recently completed a 14-day monotherapy study and recently initiated a 14-day combination study with PSI-7977. We also have in our pipeline an additional purine nucleotide analog, PSI-661, in advanced preclinical development.

Pegasys(R) and Copegus(R) are registered trademarks of Roche.

Forward-Looking Statements

Pharmasset "Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:  Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements," that involve risks, uncertainties, and other important factors, including, without limitation,  the risk of cessation or delay of any of the ongoing or planned clinical trials and/or our development of our product candidates,  the risk that the results of previously conducted studies involving our product candidates will not be repeated or observed in ongoing or future studies involving our product candidates, the risk that our collaboration with Roche will not continue or will not be successful, and the risk that any one or more of our product candidates will not be successfully developed and commercialized.  For a discussion of risks, uncertainties, and other important factors, any of which could cause our actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see the section entitled "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2010 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Pharmasset, Inc.