MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals Reports Inducement Grants Under NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350

MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRK) announced today that on Dec. 31, 2009, it granted options to purchase a total of 5,000 shares of MiddleBrook's common stock to two (2) new employees as a material inducement for them to join MiddleBrook. The options were granted pursuant to NASDAQ Marketplace Rule 4350(i)(1)(A)(iv) and under MiddleBrook's New Hire Stock Incentive Plan, which was approved by MiddleBrook's Board of Directors on Sept. 26, 2008 and further ratified by the Company’s Compensation Committee on August 20, 2009. The options have a per share exercise price equal to the closing price of MiddleBrook's common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market on the business day immediately preceding the grant date, a ten-year term and vesting over four years, with 25 percent of the options vesting one year from the grant date and 1/48th of the options vesting monthly thereafter. The options have a grant date of Dec. 31, 2009.

About MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals:

MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MBRK) is a pharmaceutical company focused on commercializing anti-infective products that fulfill unmet medical needs. MiddleBrook’s proprietary delivery technology—PULSYS—enables the pulsatile delivery, or delivery in rapid bursts, of certain drugs. MiddleBrook’s near-term corporate strategy includes improving dosing regimens and/or reducing frequency of dosing to enhance patient dosing convenience and compliance for antibiotics that have been used and trusted by physicians and patients for decades. MiddleBrook currently markets KEFLEX, the immediate-release brand of cephalexin, and MOXATAG –the first and only FDA-approved once-daily amoxicillin. For more information about MiddleBrook, please visit www.middlebrookpharma.com.