Allergan announces takeover of Oculeve

Allergan has agreed a deal to acquire Oculeve, a development-stage medical device company focused on developing novel treatments for dry eye disease.

The transaction includes a $125 million (80.67 million pounds) upfront payment and commercialisation milestone payments related to Oculeve's lead development programme OD-01.

Allergan will take control of several novel and complementary dry eye development programmes through this buyout, including 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 in more than 200 patients, demonstrating the safety and efficacy of the device. Allergan plans to conduct two additional pivotal trials prior to seeking regulatory approval of the product.

David Nicholson, executive vice-president for global brands research and development at Allergan, said: "The OD-01 programme has been shown to provide a strong safety and efficacy profile, and if approved, would provide an exciting new treatment option for patients that is complementary to our existing product offerings in this important treatment area."

This comes after Allergan last month agreed a $2.1 billion deal to acquire Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, a specialist developer of aesthetic medicines.