CARY, N.C., June 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- 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 it has been added to the Russell 3000 Index following Russell Investments’ reconstitution of its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 26, 2009. Cornerstone was also added to the Russell Microcap(R) Index.
Annual reconstitution of Russell’s U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000 Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes. The Russell 3000 Index also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched in 2007.
“We believe that this most recent accomplishment, on the heels of our agreement with Chiesi, is a strong indicator that the Company’s focus on the respiratory market to generate profitable growth is beginning to gain traction with investors,” said Craig A. Collard, Cornerstone’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We expect that the addition of Cornerstone to the Russell 3000 Index will increase our visibility among investors, provide an opportunity to broaden our shareholder base and, ultimately, advance our efforts to enhance shareholder value.”
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. These investment tools originated from Russell’s multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when Russell saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
About Russell
Russell Investments provides strategic advice, world-class implementation, state-of-the-art performance benchmarks and a range of institutional-quality investment products. Russell has $136 billion in assets under management as of March 31, 2009, and serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in more than 40 countries. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of The Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company.
About Cornerstone Therapeutics
Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. , headquartered in Cary, N.C., is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing significant products primarily for the respiratory and related markets. The Company currently promotes multiple marketed products in the United States to respiratory-focused physicians and key retail pharmacies with its specialty sales force. The Company also has a late-stage clinical pipeline with five regulatory approval submissions targeted within the next three years. Key elements of the Company’s strategy are to in-license or acquire rights to underpromoted, patent-protected, branded respiratory or related pharmaceutical products or late-stage product candidates; implement life cycle management strategies to maximize the potential value and competitive position of the Company’s currently marketed products, newly acquired products and product candidates that are currently in development; grow product revenue through the Company’s specialty sales force, which is focused on the respiratory and related markets; and maintain and strengthen the intellectual property position of the Company’s currently marketed products, newly acquired products and product candidates.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this press release regarding the progress and timing of our product development programs and related trials; our future opportunities; our strategy, future operations, financial position, future revenues and projected costs; our management’s prospects, plans and objectives; and any other statements about management’s future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including, without limitation, statements containing the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements.
There are a number of important factors that could cause our actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including risks relating to our ability to develop and maintain the necessary sales, marketing, supply chain, distribution and manufacturing capabilities to commercialize our products, including difficulties relating to the manufacture of Zyflo CR(R) tablets; the possibility that the Food and Drug Administration (the FDA) will take enforcement action against us or one or more of our marketed drugs that do not have FDA-approved marketing applications; patient, physician and third-party payor acceptance of our products as safe and effective therapeutic products; our ability to maintain regulatory approvals to market and sell our products that do have FDA approved marketing applications; our ability to enter into additional strategic licensing, collaboration or co-promotion transactions on favorable terms, if at all; our ability to maintain compliance with NASDAQ listing requirements; adverse side effects experienced by patients taking our products; difficulties relating to clinical trials, including difficulties or delays in the completion of patient enrollment, data collection or data analysis; the results of preclinical studies and clinical trials with respect to our products under development and whether such results will be indicative of results obtained in later clinical trials; our ability to satisfy FDA and other regulatory requirements; our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patent and other intellectual property protection for our products and product candidates; and the other factors described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) on May 7, 2009 and other filings that we make with the SEC. If one or more of these factors materialize, or if any underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results, performance or achievements may vary materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
In addition, the statements in this press release reflect our expectations and beliefs as of the date of this release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our expectations and beliefs to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements publicly at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Our forward-looking statements do not reflect the potential impact of any future acquisitions, mergers, dispositions, business development transactions, joint ventures or investments that we may make, except that in particular circumstances as specifically indicated we may address the potential impact of our proposed transaction with Chiesi Farmaceutici SpA. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date after the date of this release.
Zyflo CR(R) is a trademark of Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc. Russell 3000 Index, Russell 2000 Index and Russell Microcap Index are registered trademarks of Russell Investments.
CONTACT: Investor Relations, Evan Smith, evan.smith@fd.com, or Brian
Ritchie, brian.ritchie@fd.com, both of FD, +1-212-850-5600; or Media
Relations, Robert Stanislaro of FD, +1-212-850-5600,
robert.stanislaro@fd.com, all for Cornerstone Therapeutics Inc.
