AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of Howard B. Rosen as interim Chief Executive Officer of AcelRx, effective April 1, 2015. Mr. Rosen is a technically trained executive with over 25 years of success growing start-up and mid-size biopharmaceutical companies. Mr. Rosen previously held senior-level general management positions and functional roles in strategy, marketing, finance, business development, and research and development at Gilead Sciences and ALZA Corporation.

Mr. Rosen has served on the Board of Directors of AcelRx since 2008 and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Alcobra and several private biopharmaceutical companies. In addition to the appointment of Mr. Rosen, AcelRx has restructured its work force as part of a plan to reduce operating costs and focus the company's financial and development resources on working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to seek marketing approval for Zalviso, as well as to continue the development of ARX-04. This restructuring will reduce the Company's workforce by 19 employees, or approximately 36% of its employee work force, and primarily impacts the commercial team and field-based medical personnel, who were hired in preparation for a potential commercial launch of Zalviso.