PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Anacor Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:ANAC) announced today that the first patient has been dosed in a Phase 2b trial of AN2728, a topical anti-inflammatory product candidate for the treatment of psoriasis. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects approximately 7.5 million people in the United States and over 100 million people worldwide. AN2728 is a boron-based small-molecule compound which inhibits the activity of phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4), thereby reducing the production of TNF-alpha, IL-12, IL-23 and other pro-inflammatory cytokines that are the precursors of the inflammation associated with psoriasis.