Pharsight Initiates Beta Testing of New Advanced Platform for Modeling Software Products

Pharsight Initiates Beta Testing of New Advanced Platform for Modeling Software Products

'Phoenix' Platform to Make the PK/PD Scientist Significantly
More Efficient

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Oct. 21, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pharsight Corporation (Nasdaq:PHST), a leading provider of software, strategic consulting, and regulatory services for optimizing clinical drug development, today announced that is has initiated beta testing of its new Phoenix(tm) analysis and modeling software platform. The beta program covers a new, Phoenix-compatible version of WinNonlin(r), Pharsight's industry-standard pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) modeling and analysis tool. In addition to Phoenix(tm) WinNonlin(r), the beta program also covers new population modeling tools currently under development by Pharsight.

"Phoenix is an entirely new software platform that will enable PK/PD scientists to accomplish significantly more in less time," said Shawn O'Connor, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Pharsight. "We believe Phoenix will significantly enhance scientific productivity by speeding up the processing of PK/PD data, easing the creation of FDA-compliant reports, and ultimately supporting confident, well-informed, and efficient clinical development decisions. We are beta testing Phoenix WinNonlin, and plan to release new Phoenix versions of all our products that process, analyze, and report on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data."

The enhanced scientific productivity enabled by Phoenix arises from superior engineering across the entire PK/PD workflow. Phoenix WinNonlin's major features include new workflow management tools, powerful native graphics, a new user interface for faster and easier learning, backward-compatibility with WinNonlin version 5, and interoperability with Pharsight Knowledgebase Server(tm) (PKS(tm)) to enable electronically-compliant analyses and reports.

Pharsight's Phoenix beta program includes 20 organizations and 130 individual testers. Represented in the beta group are both large and small pharmaceutical companies, major biotech companies, leading academics, and the Food and Drug Administration. Commercial drug development organizations from the United States, Japan, and Europe are participating in the beta program. "We are especially proud of the depth of support evidenced by our group of beta participants," added Mr. O'Connor. "To see leading companies, FDA, and academic institutions allocate significant time and effort to the testing of our new platform underscores the industry's interest in next generation tools to support model-based drug development and the value our industry customers have come to expect from Pharsight products."

About Phoenix(tm) and Phoenix(tm) WinNonlin(r)

Phoenix is Pharsight's new desktop software platform that provides a cohesive environment for data analysis, modeling, and simulation enabling improved drug development. The foundational element for Phoenix is WinNonlin, the industry-standard tool for noncompartmental analysis.

Phoenix WinNonlin is the next generation of the industry standard for PK/PD modeling and noncompartmental and compartmental analysis. Phoenix
WinNonlin seeks to improve the scientific productivity of critical drug development tasks by providing a comprehensive analysis environment that implements efficient reusable workflows and powerful native graphics while reducing learning and collaboration barriers and enabling more impactful quantitative decision making.

About Pharsight Corporation

Pharsight Corporation develops and markets integrated products and services that enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to achieve significant and enduring improvements in the development and use of therapeutic products. The company's goal is to help customers reduce the time, cost and risk of drug development, as well as optimize the post-approval marketing and use of pharmaceutical products.

Pharsight's approach enhances the fundamental element of drug development success: strong decision-making. By adopting the Pharsight approach, customers acquire a new decision-making process with the potential to systematically improve every level and phase of their business and scientific processes. Pharsight is headquartered in Mountain View, California. Information about Pharsight is available at www.pharsight.com.

Forward Looking Statements

The statements in this press release related to the performance of Pharsight products are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are inherently speculative, and actual results may differ materially from Pharsight's expectations due to a variety of factors, including: changes in FDA regulations may affect the demand for the services; and customers may not perceive the benefits of the product to be the same as Pharsight believes them to be. Other risk factors relating to Pharsight are disclosed in the company's most recent 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 13, 2008. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to the company on the date hereof, and the company assumes no obligation to update such statements.

Registered Trademarks and Trademarks

Pharsight, Phoenix, WinNonlin, Phoenix WinNonlin, Pharsight Knowledgebase Server, and PKS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pharsight Corporation. All other brands and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.