ANADYS ANNOUNCES EXECUTIVE PROMOTION AND APPOINTMENT OF NEW REGULATORY AFFAIRS POST

San Diego, CA, March 2, 2004 – Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Anadys") announced today that Michael J. Kamdar has been promoted to the position of Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Finance. In addition, Anadys announces the addition of Renee Y. Lamb, M.S. to the position of Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs.

Mr. Kamdar has served as Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategy and a member of the Anadys Executive Management team since August 2001, with the responsibility for Business Development, Global Market Planning and Corporate Strategy. Mr. Kamdar brings more than 15 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience to this position. Prior to joining Anadys, Mr. Kamdar served for eight years at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, a Pfizer company where he was most recently the Senior Director, Business Development. Prior to his eight years at Agouron, Mr. Kamdar held various product management and new product planning positions for Hybritech, Inc. (An Eli Lilly Company) and Centocor Inc.

Ms. Renee Y. Lamb joined Anadys from Biogen-Idec Inc., where she served for eight years, most recently as Senior Director, Corporate Compliance & Project Team Lead. Previously, Ms. Lamb served for over 10 years at Genentech Inc., where she held several positions of increasing responsibility in compliance and validation.

"We are very pleased to announce the promotion of Mike and the addition of Renee," said Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., President and CEO of Anadys. "Mike's many contributions so far include a number of discovery collaborations, as well as strategic alliances. Mike's extended responsibilities in corporate finance will be fundamental to achieving our corporate objectives. We are also pleased to announce the appointment of an experienced regulatory professional such as Renee as our Senior Director of Regulatory Affairs," said Dr. Xanthopoulos. "Renee's appointment confirms our commitment to clinical development and will enhance our capability in important areas of the drug development process,' Dr. Xanthopoulos added.

About Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Anadys Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.anadyspharma.com) is a biopharmaceutical company committed to advancing patient care by discovering, developing and commercializing novel and powerful small molecule, anti-infective medicines for the treatment of chronic viral hepatitis, including HCV and HBV, and bacterial infections. Anadys integrates biology and chemistry into a seamless, feedback-based, iterative process to facilitate rapid and successful drug discovery. The approach is designed to advance a strong and continual pipeline of drug candidates into the clinic and ultimately the market.
For more information, please visit www.anadyspharma.com.

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical in nature constitute "forward-looking statements." Such statements include, but are not limited to, expectations regarding future corporate activities and accomplishments, as well as the Company's future drug development processes. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results of Anadys Pharmaceuticals to be materially different from historical results or from any results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, Anadys can provide no assurances that it will achieve corporate or clinical development objectives. This and other factors that may cause actual results to differ are more fully discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of Anadys' Registration Statement on Form S-1 on file with the SEC. Anadys is providing this information as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.