Investors

NEW YORK, July 10, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ACRX), a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of acute and breakthrough pain, today announced that Richard King, Chief Executive Officer, Pamela Palmer, Founder and Chief Medical Officer, and Jim Welch, Chief Financial Officer, will co-present at RetailInvestorConferences.com.

This will be a live, interactive online event where investors are invited to ask the company questions in real-time - both in the presentation hall as well as the company's "virtual trade booth." If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an on-demand archive will be available for 90 days.

It is recommended that investors pre-register to save time and receive event updates.

About AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of acute and breakthrough pain. AcelRx's lead product candidate, the ARX-01 Sufentanil NanoTab PCA System, which is currently in Phase 3 clinical development, is designed to solve the problems associated with post-operative intravenous patient-controlled analgesia which has been shown to cause harm to patients following surgery because of the side effects of morphine, the invasive intravenous route of delivery and the inherent potential for programming and delivery errors associated with the complexity of infusion pumps. AcelRx has two additional product candidates which have completed Phase 2 clinical development: ARX-02 for the treatment of cancer breakthrough pain, and ARX-03 for mild sedation, anxiety reduction and pain relief for patients undergoing painful procedures in a physician's office. A fourth product candidate, ARX-04, is a sufentanil product for the treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain, and AcelRx plans to initiate a Phase 2 study funded by a grant from USAMRMC, contingent on approval of the proposed clinical protocol for the study by USAMRMC. For additional information about AcelRx's clinical programs please visit http://www.acelrx.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and include all statements relating to AcelRx's future financial and operating results, access to or need for investment capital and the growth of AcelRx's overall business, as well as other statements that can be identified by the use of forward-looking language, such as "believes," "feels," "expects," "may," "will," "should," "seeks," "plans," "anticipates," or "intends" or the negative of those terms, or by discussions of strategy or intentions. Investors are cautioned that all forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in AcelRx's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including without limitation its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2012.

About RetailInvestorConferences.com

Since 2010, RetailInvestorConferences.com, created by BetterInvesting (NAIC) PR Newswire and MUNCmedia, has been the only monthly virtual investor conference series that provides an interactive forum for presenting companies to meet directly with retail investors using a graphically-enhanced online platform.

Designed to replicate the look and feel of location-based investor conferences, Retail Investor Conferences unites PR Newswire's leading-edge online conferencing and investor communications capabilities with BetterInvesting's extensive retail investor audience network and MUNCmedia's sophisticated retail investor targeting.

SOURCE AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Jim Welch, Chief Financial Officer, +1-650-216-3511, jwelch@acelrx.com, RetailInvestorConferences.com, Bradley H. Smith, +1-201-942-7157, bradley.smith@prnewswire.com