diff --git a/lib/compress.js b/lib/compress.js
index 5e4c483a..e9591590 100644
--- a/lib/compress.js
+++ b/lib/compress.js
@@ -1273,7 +1273,6 @@ merge(Compressor.prototype, {
         def(AST_Constant, return_false);
         def(AST_This, return_false);
 
-        var pure_regex = /[@#]__PURE__/g;
         function has_pure_annotation(node) {
             if (node.pure !== undefined) return node.pure;
             var pure = false;
@@ -1281,8 +1280,8 @@ merge(Compressor.prototype, {
             if (node.start
                 && (comments = node.start.comments_before)
                 && comments.length
-                && pure_regex.test((last_comment = comments[comments.length - 1]).value)) {
-                last_comment.value = last_comment.value.replace(pure_regex, ' ');
+                && /[@#]__PURE__/.test((last_comment = comments[comments.length - 1]).value)) {
+                last_comment.value = last_comment.value.replace(/[@#]__PURE__/g, ' ');
                 pure = true;
             }
             return node.pure = pure;