Anadys Pharmaceuticals Suspends Dosing of ANA975 in Hepatitis C Clinical Trial Pending Further Assessment of 13-Week Pre-Clinical Toxicology Studies Conference Call - Final.

Original Source: FD (FAIR DISCLOSURE) WIRE

OPERATOR: Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Anadys Pharmaceuticals suspended dosing of ANA975 conference call. My name is Sharon and I will be your coordinator for today. At this time all participants are in listen-only mode and we will be facilitating a question-and-answer session towards the end of this conference call. (OPERATOR INSTRUCTIONS). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded for replay purposes. I now would like to turn the presentation over to one of your hosts for today, Mr. Vince Reardon, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Sir, please proceed.

VINCE REARDON, SENIOR DIRECTOR, IR, ANADYS PHARMACEUTICALS: Good morning. The news release today and this conference call and webcast contain certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to -- references to the continued devaluation of preclinical information; expected discussions with Novartis; the ability to continue clinical trials of ANA975; the timing of future announcements and activities related to the ANA975 development program; our projected operating requirements and future cash position.

In addition, results of early clinical trials may not be predictive of future results and Anadys cannot provide any assurances that its product candidates will not have unforeseen safety issues, will have favorable results in future clinical trials or will receive regulatory approval. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ perhaps materially from those anticipated or suggested by such forward-looking statements.

In addition, Anadys' results may be affected by risk related to its collaborative relationships with Novartis and LG Life Sciences; the level of efforts that its collaborative relationship partners devote to development and commercialization of its product candidates; risks associated with clinical trials and regulatory approval; Anadys' effectiveness at managing its financial resources; the scope and validity of patent protection as well as competition from other biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies.

These and other risk factors are discussed in more detail in our SEC filings including our Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2006. We undertake no obligation following the date of this conference call to update or revise our forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date such statements are made. I would like now to introduce Kleanthis Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., President and CEO of Anadys Pharmaceuticals; Steve Worland, Ph.D., President Pharmaceuticals; Devron Averett, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer; Michael Adam, Ph.D., Senior Vice President Drug Development Operations; and Jennifer Crittenden, Vice President of Finance.

KLEANTHIS XANTHOPOULOS, PRESIDENT, CEO, ANADYS PHARMACEUTICALS: Thank you, Vince, and good morning to all of you. As you have no doubt seen this morning, we announced that we have suspended dosing patients with ANA975 in our Phase Ib trial of hepatitis C patients pending additional analysis of recently obtained information from preclinical 13-week animal toxicology studies. Preliminary analysis of this information reveals various new observations which appear consistent with intense immune stimulation in animals.

Anadys and its …