PRESS RELEASE DATED JANUARY 8, 2007

Exhibit 99.1



ACCESS NEWS

Contact: Company Contact: Investor Relations
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Stephen B. Thompson Donald C. Weinberger/Alisa Steinberg (media)
Vice President,
Chief Financial Officer Wolfe Axelrod Weinberger LLC
(214) 905-5100 (212) 370-4500


ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS NAMES
STEPHEN R. SEILER AS PRESIDENT AND CEO

- Rosemary Mazanet, MD, PhD appointed Vice-Chairman -

- David P. Luci joins Board of Directors -

Dallas, TEXAS, January 8, 2007, ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC. (ACCP.OB)
announced today that Stephen R. Seiler has joined the Company to serve
as President and Chief Executive Officer and has been named a member
of the Board of Directors. Rosemary Mazanet, MD, PhD, former Acting
CEO of Access, has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the Board and
David P. Luci, C.P.A., Esq. has been appointed to the Board of
Directors and agreed to serve as Audit Committee Chairman.

Mr. Seiler has until recently been Acting Chief Executive Officer of
Effective Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and advising other companies in the
healthcare field. From 2001 until 2004 he was Chief Executive Officer
of Hybridon, Inc. (currently Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.). While at
Hybridon, Mr. Seiler guided the company through capital raisings
totaling over $30 million, the restructuring of its senior
securities, the re-listing of the company's stock on the American
Stock Exchange, as well as several pharmaceutical licensing
transactions. Mr. Seiler was Executive Vice President, Planning,
Investment & Development at Elan Corporation plc from 1995 until
2001. He also worked as an investment banker at Paribus Capital
Markets in both London and New York from 1991 to 1995 where he was

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Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Page 2

founder and head of Paribas's pharmaceutical investment banking group.
Mr. Seiler received a B.A. in History from the University of Notre
Dame in 1977 and a J.D. from Georgetown University in 1980.

Rosemary Mazanet, MD, PhD, former Acting CEO of Access, has been
appointed Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. She will retain
an active role with the Company as a consultant particularly with
respect to our clinical programs and business arrangements.

The Company also announced the appointment of David P. Luci, C.P.A.,
Esq. to serve on the Company's Board of Directors and as Audit
Committee Chairman. Mr. Luci is Executive Vice President and
General Counsel of Bioenvision, Inc., a product-oriented
biopharmaceutical company. He has been with Bioenvision from 2002
to the present. From 1994 to 2002 he was an Associate with Paul,
Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP. Prior to that time he was a Senior
Auditor with Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Luci holds a BS in Business
Administration and a JD from Albany Law School of Union University.

"We are extremely pleased to have Stephen Seiler on board, both as
CEO and director," stated Mr. Jeffrey B. Davis, Chairman of Access'
Board of Directors. "Mr. Seiler has a unique blend of skills and
experiences and is extremely well qualified to direct Access
through its next stages of clinical and business development."

"We thank Dr. Rosemary Mazanet for her hard work and accomplishments
over the past 18 months and are very pleased that she has agreed to
accept the role of Vice Chairman of the Board, and will continue to
be an integral part of our ongoing development of ProLindac(TM), as
well as other key clinical programs. We are also very happy to
announce that Mr. David Luci has agreed to join the Access Board of
Directors. David's unique experiences as Bioenvision's chief
financial officer and chief counsel will serve our board extremely
well," Mr. Davis continued.

Mr. Seiler added, "We plan to aggressively advance and broaden the
Company's exciting drugportfolio including by the expansion of our
Phase II clinical trials of ProLindac(TM) and the commercialization
of MuGard(TM), which has recently received marketing clearance from
the FDA for treatment of mucositis induced by cancer therapy. I
look forward to working with Rosemary and the rest of the team at
Access."

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Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Page 3

About ProLindac(TM)
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The Company's lead compound, ProLindac(TM), is a novel dach platinum
prodrug which has been shown to be active in a wide variety of
solid tumors in both preclinical models and in human trials. The
Company believes that ProLindac's unique molecular design
potentially could eliminate some of the toxic neurological side
effects seen in currently marketed Dach platinums. The Company is
currently enrolling patients in two Phase II clinical trials, one in
ovarian cancer and one in head and neck cancer, and plans to initiate
one or more additional Phase II trials, including one in colorectal
cancer in 2007.

About MuGard(TM)
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The Company has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA to market
MuGard(TM) in the United States. MuGard(TM) is Access' proprietary
oral rinse product for the prevention and treatment of oral
mucositis, the debilitating side-effect which afflicts more than 40%
of cancer patients undergoing radiation and chemotherapy. There is
currently no well-accepted treatment for mucositis. Access is
actively seeking marketing partners in Europe and the US.

About Vitamin B12
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The Company is actively pursuing developing clinical development
of its novel Vitamin B12 drug delivery technology, particularly
as it pertains to the oral delivery of large molecule drugs that
are only currently deliverable by injection or intravenous
administration. Pre-clinical animal studies utilizing Access' VB-12
technology have demonstrated the ability to deliver insulin by
oral administration in therapeutic levels. Access is actively seeking
development partners in this area as well.

Access Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an emerging biopharmaceutical
company that develops and commercializes propriety products for
the treatment and supportive care of cancer patients. Access'
products include ProLindac(TM), currently in Phase II clinical testing
of patients with ovarian cancer and MuGard(TM) for the treatment of
patients with mucositis. The Company also has other advanced drug
delivery technologies including vitamin-mediated targeted delivery
and oral drug delivery. For additional information on Access
Pharmaceuticals, please visit our website at www.accesspharma.com.

This press release contains certain statements that are
forward-looking within the meaning of Section 27a of the Securities
Act of 1933, as amended, and that involve risks and uncertainties,
including statements relating to the value of our products in the
market, our ability to achieve clinical and commercial success and
our ability to successfully develop marketed products. These
statements are subject to numerous risks, including but not limited
to the risks detailed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 2005 and other reports filed by
us with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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