Allergan acquires Oculeve for dry eye care

Allergan, a global pharmaceutical company, has completed the acquisition of Oculeve

Allergan acquired Oculeve, a development-stage medical device company focused on developing novel treatments for dry eye disease, for an £80 million upfront payment and commercialisation milestone payments related to Oculeve's lead development program, OD-01.

Brent Saunders, CEO and president of Allergan, said: "Dry eye is currently an underserved condition, with many patients not receiving adequate treatment from over-the-counter options.

“Allergan is committed to expanding our product offerings in this category, and the development of OD-01, an intranasal neurostimulation device, is complementary to our market-leading dry eye treatment, Restasis^, as well as other dry eye products in development within our pipeline."

The acquisition of Oculeve adds dry eye development to Allergan's current eye care research and development. This includes OD-01, a non-invasive nasal neurostimulation device that increases tear production in patients with dry eye disease.

Oculeve has completed four clinical studies of OD-01 to date and Allergan plans to conduct two additional pivotal trials prior to FDA submission, which is expected in 2016 with potential commercial launch in 2017.