Discontinued Operations

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2012

Discontinued Operations

Discontinued Operations

Note 13. Discontinued Operations

        On November 5, 2010, the Company closed on the sale to Meda AB, or Meda, of certain rights and assets related to MUSE, transurethral alprostadil, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction, or the MUSE Transaction. Meda had been the Company's European distributor of MUSE since 2002. The assets sold in the MUSE Transaction include the U.S. and foreign MUSE patents, existing inventory, and the manufacturing facility located in Lakewood, New Jersey. The Company retained all of the liabilities associated with the pre-closing operations and products of the MUSE business and the accounts receivable for pre-closing MUSE sales. Prior to the closing of the MUSE Transaction, the Company terminated all of the rights to MUSE and avanafil held by Deerfield Management Company, L.P. and affiliates and by Crown Bank, N. A. as collateral to the Company's notes payable. Under the terms of the MUSE Transaction, the Company received an upfront payment of $22.0 million upon the closing and is eligible to receive an additional $1.5 million based on future sales of MUSE, provided that certain sales milestones are reached. The Company has not received any sales milestones to date and does not anticipate that these sales milestones will be achieved in the near future. Post-closing, Meda is responsible for the manufacturing, selling and marketing of MUSE. Meda also assumed all post-closing expenses and liabilities associated with MUSE. The Company has agreed not to develop, manufacture or sell any transurethral erectile dysfunction drugs for a period of three years following the closing of the MUSE Transaction.

        The sale of the MUSE product and certain related assets has been reported as discontinued operations in the consolidated statements of operations for all periods presented, because (i) the MUSE product and related assets have identifiable cash flows that are largely independent of the cash flows of other groups of assets and liabilities, (ii) the Company does not have any significant continuing involvement with the product after the close of the transaction, and (iii) the cash milestone payment to be received upon achievement of certain sales levels is considered an indirect cash flow. There are no assets related to the MUSE operations for the periods presented. The liabilities related to the MUSE operations are reported as liabilities of discontinued operations in the consolidated balance sheets for all periods presented. The extinguishment of the largest liability of the discontinued operations, accrued product returns, will be settled in accordance with the returns policy and by cash payments made to former customers for the return of expired MUSE product sold by VIVUS. The return window for expired MUSE product will end in August 2013.