Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc., specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing significant products primarily for the respiratory and related markets, announced that it has received the approval of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts for its acquisition of the commercial rights to the antibiotic Factive (gemifloxacin mesylate) in North America and certain countries in Europe from Oscient Pharmaceuticals Corporation and expects to promptly close the transaction.

At the closing, the company will purchase the Factive assets for a cash payment of $5,000,000 plus an amount for purchased inventory to be mutually determined prior to closing, quarterly royalty payments based on adjusted net sales for a period of five years and the assumption of certain liabilities, including aggregate cure amounts of $110,000 under certain contracts that were assumed by the company. Oscient filed its voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Massachusetts on July 13, 2009.

Factive is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic approved for the treatment of acute bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (ABECB) and community-acquired pneumonia of mild to moderate severity (CAP). According to Wolters Kluwer Health, a third-party provider of prescription data, in 2008, the U.S. oral solid fluoroquinolone market generated approximately 39 million prescriptions. Factive was launched in the US in September of 2004 and is the only fluoroquinolone approved in the US for the five-day treatment of both ABECB and CAP. Approximately 1.1 million prescriptions have been dispensed for Factive since its launch. In 2008, Factive generated approximately $16 million in net revenues. Factive has composition of matter patent protection which extends into 2018, longer than the composition of matter patent protection for any currently marketed fluoroquinolone or other antibiotic widely used to treat respiratory tract infections.