SAN FRANCISCO, June 27, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ ----VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: VIAP), a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, will join the Russell Microcap Index when Russell Investments reconstitutes its family of U.S. indexes on June 27 after market close, according to a preliminary list of additions posted on http://www.russell.com

"We are pleased to have been selected for inclusion in this objective, market-driven index as we believe it reflects our continued progress and potential," said Lawrence K. Cohen, Ph.D., chief executive officer of VIA Pharmaceuticals.

Membership in the Russell Microcap Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

Annual reconstitution of Russell indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000 Index and Russell Microcap. Total returns data for the Russell Microcap and other Russell Indexes is available at http://www.russell.com/Indexes/performance/daily_total_returns_us.asp.

About Russell

Russell Investments aims to improve financial security for people by providing strategic advice, world-class implementation, state-of-the-art performance benchmarks, and a range of institutional-quality investment products. With more than $213 billion in assets under management, Russell serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in more than 40 countries. Russell provides access to some of the world's best money managers. It helps investors put this access to work in corporate defined benefit and defined contribution plans, and in the life savings of individual investors.

About VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on the development of compounds for the treatment of cardiovascular disease. VIA is building a pipeline of small-molecule drugs that target a significant unmet medical need: reducing inflammation in the blood vessel wall, which is an underlying cause of atherosclerosis and its complications, including heart attack and stroke. The company's lead drug candidate, VIA-2291, is in multiple Phase 2 clinical studies in patients with cardiovascular disease. For more information, visit: http://www.viapharmaceuticals.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements relate to future events or to VIA's future financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause VIA's actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as "may," "could," "expect," "intend," "plan," "seek," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond VIA's control and which could materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to:

 -- our ability
   to obtain necessary financing; -- our ability to control our operating expenses; -- our ability to recruit and enroll patients
   for the FDG-PET clinical trial; -- failure to obtain sufficient data from enrolled patients that can be used to evaluate VIA-2291,
   thereby impairing the validity or statistical significance of our clinical trials; -- our ability to successfully complete
   our clinical trials of VIA-2291 on expected timetables and the outcomes of such clinical trials; -- complexities in designing
   and implementing cardiovascular clinical trials using histological examinations, measurement of biomarkers, medical imaging
   and atherosclerotic plaque bioassays; -- the results of our clinical trials, including without limitation, with respect to
   the safety and efficacy of VIA-2291; -- the outcome of any legal proceedings; -- our ability to obtain necessary FDA approvals;
   -- our ability to successfully commercialize VIA-2291; -- our ability to obtain and protect our intellectual property related
   to our product candidates; -- our potential for future growth and the development of our product pipeline; -- our ability
   to form and maintain collaborative relationships to develop and commercialize our product candidates; -- general economic
   and business conditions; and -- the other risks described under Item IA "Risk Factors" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for
   the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 on file with the SEC. 

All forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements set forth above. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and VIA undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of these statements in light of new information or future events.

SOURCE VIA Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

http://www.viapharmaceuticals.com
   

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