Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing significant products primarily for the respiratory and related markets, today announced that they have entered into a License Agreement and a Development Agreement with Alitair Pharmaceuticals, Inc, also known as The Cough Company (“The Cough Company”). Under the terms of the agreement, Cornerstone has acquired a license to certain of The Cough Company’s proprietary intellectual property and the companies will collaborate in developing one or more products to treat respiratory diseases.

The Cough Company has a portfolio of patents pending, which relate to its proprietary drug delivery system. This portfolio includes claims covering solid oral dosage formulations in a wide variety of therapeutic categories. Cornerstone intends to leverage this intellectual property to develop one or more proprietary, patent-protected cough and cold products.

“We view The Cough Company as an important partner in the continued development of our cough and cold franchise, which is a key aspect of our growth strategy,” said Craig A. Collard, Cornerstone’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “This collaboration has the potential to significantly enhance our pipeline, which already includes multiple innovative product candidates in the respiratory space.” “Cornerstone provides the respiratory marketing expertise which we believe will translate our development program into multiple commercial successes,” said William Howard, Ph.D., President of The Cough Company. “We look forward to moving our platform forward with Cornerstone’s support.” Pursuant to the agreement, Cornerstone will make an upfront one-time payment and has committed to making subsequent success-based milestone payments, as well as royalties based on any future net sales of licensed products. Cornerstone’s rights to The Cough Company’s intellectual property are exclusive as long as the parties are actively collaborating on any product development.