News Release

PARSIPPANY, N.J., June 27, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Nasdaq: PCRX), an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company, today announced that it has been included in the Russell 3000® Index following Russell Investments' reconstitution of its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 24, 2011.

The Russell 3000 Index measures the performance of the 3,000 largest U.S. companies representing approximately 98 percent of the investable U.S. equity market. According to Russell Investments, the Russell 3000 Index is constructed to provide a comprehensive, unbiased and stable barometer of the broad market and is completely reconstituted annually to ensure new and growing equities are reflected. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes. The Russell 3000 also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index.

For more information or to view the full Russell 3000® Index, please visit http://www.russell.com/Indexes/.

About Pacira

Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacture and commercialization of novel pharmaceutical products, based on its proprietary DepoFoam drug delivery technology, for use in hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers. In December 2010, Pacira announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for EXPAREL, the company's most advanced investigational product candidate, had been accepted for filing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has assigned a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date of October 28, 2011 for the review of the EXPAREL NDA. EXPAREL is a bupivacaine-based product and has completed extensive Phase 3 clinical development for postoperative analgesia by infiltration. EXPAREL consists of bupivacaine encapsulated in DepoFoam, which is designed to address the limitations of widely used medications by enhancing their dosing and/or administration profile. Additional information about Pacira is available at www.pacira.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about our future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about EXPAREL's potential, and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including risks relating to: the timing of, and our ability to obtain regulatory approval of EXPAREL; the timing of our anticipated commercial launch of EXPAREL; the rate and degree of market acceptance of EXPAREL; the size and growth of the potential markets for EXPAREL and our ability to serve those markets; our commercialization and marketing capabilities; and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010, and in other filings that we periodically make with the SEC. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contacts:

James S. Scibetta
Chief Financial Officer
Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
(973) 254-3570

Jennifer Beugelmans
Vice President, Investor Relations
Pure Communications, Inc.
(646) 596-7473

SOURCE Pacira Pharmaceuticals, Inc.