Chiesi grants Curosurf license, invests in Cornerstone

Italy's Chiesi Farmaceutici SPA has granted spec pharma Cornerstone Therapeutics an exclusive US license to sell its porcine-derived lung surfactant Curosurf (poractant alfa) for the next ten years (renewable thereafter automatically in one-year increments). Cornerstone also obtained the first right of offer on any drugs or technologies--most likely in the respiratory field, including Phase I synthetic surfactant Nymusa for sleep apnea--which Chiesi plans to launch in the US.