Cornerstone to market Chiesi's Curosurf

Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A. (Parma, Italy) granted Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:CRTX) exclusive rights to market Curosurf poractant alfa in the U.S. for 10 years to treat respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) in premature infants. Chiesi will receive 11.9 million shares of Cornerstone valued at $89.3 million based on Cornerstone's close of $7.50 on Wednesday, the day before the deal was announced. Cornerstone President and CEO Craig Collard and EVP Steven Lutz will sell Chiesi an additional 1.6 million shares at $5.50, which is a 27% discount to Cornerstone's close on Wednesday. In total, Chiesi will own 51% of Cornerstone's fully diluted shares outstanding.

Curosurf, a natural pig lung surfactant, had $31.8 million in 2008 net revenue in the U.S. Cornerstone will receive $15.5 million in cash from Chiesi and an option to license U.S. marketing rights to new products and technologies that Chiesi intends to market in the U.S. ...