 Prulifloxacin is marketed in Japan and Italy as Quisnon (Nippon Shinyaku); Sword (Meiji); Unidrox (Angelini); Prixina (Angelini) and Glimbax (ITF Hellas) in Greece and generic as Pruquin.In 1989 and 1992 United States patents (US 5086049) were issued to Nippon Shinyaku for prulifloxacin.It was not until June 2004, when Optimer Pharmaceuticals acquired exclusive rights to discover, develop and commercialize prulifloxacin (Pruvel) in the U.S. from Nippon Shinyaku Co., Ltd., that there were any attempts to seek FDA approval to market the drug in the United States.