Anacor Pharmaceuticals Announces Retirement of Zhi Hong from Board of Directors

Anacor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ANAC) announced today that Zhi Hong, Ph.D., has retired from its Board of Directors effective May 25, 2011. Dr. Hong has been a member of the Anacor Board of Directors since 2009. Dr. Hong is the Senior Vice President and Head of the Infectious Disease Center of Excellence for Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

"On behalf of the Board and the Company, we would like to thank Zhi for the many contributions he has made at Anacor,” said David Perry, Chief Executive Officer of Anacor Pharmaceuticals. "Our relationship with GSK has been exceptionally productive, and Zhi has been a major supporter of our collaboration.”

About Anacor Pharmaceuticals

Anacor is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing and commercializing novel small-molecule therapeutics derived from its boron chemistry platform. Anacor has discovered five clinical compounds, including its three lead programs currently in development: AN2690, a topical antifungal for the treatment of onychomycosis; AN2728, a topical anti-inflammatory PDE-4 inhibitor for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis; and GSK 2251052, or GSK ‘052 (formerly referred to as AN3365), a systemic antibiotic for the treatment of infections caused by Gram-negative bacteria, which has been licensed to GlaxoSmithKline under the companies' research and development agreement. In addition, Anacor is developing AN2718 as a topical antifungal product candidate for the treatment of onychomycosis and skin fungal infections, and AN2898 as a topical anti-inflammatory product candidate for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. For more information visit http://www.anacor.com.