ANIK: ORTHOVISC(R) Clinical Study Commenced To Expand Usage

Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ANIK) today announced that, together with its partner, DePuy Mitek, they have initiated a clinical study designed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of ORTHOVISC(R) to treat pain caused by osteoarthritis (OA) in the shoulder joint. Treatment of subjects has begun in this blinded, randomized, multi-center clinical study. Patient enrollment is expected to be completed by the end of 2007.

"Our plan for ORTHOVISC in the next few years incorporates several important clinical studies," said Anika President and Chief Executive Officer Charles H. Sherwood, Ph.D. "Initiating this ORTHOVISC study with DePuy Mitek as a treatment for OA of the shoulder is an important part of this plan."

ORTHOVISC, with a 30 mg dose of hyaluronic acid (HA), contains the highest available concentration of HA, which may offer improved pain relief at early, mid and late time points with only three injections. In addition to its effectiveness, no pseudoseptic reactions have been reported in more than one million injections of ORTHOVISC.