Allergan licenses dry eye drug tavilermide

Allergan announced it will develop and commercialize dry eye drug tavilermide through an exclusive licensing agreement with Mimetogen Pharmaceuticals.

Allergan will pay $50 million upfront to Mimetogen and fund phase 3 development of tavilermide, a novel small molecule that induces mucin production and works upstream prior to inflammation. Phase 2 trials showed it can safely improve both signs and symptoms of dry eye. Two multi-center phase 3 clinical studies are underway in the United States.

"Dry eye disease continues to be an area where novel therapies are needed to improve the treatment of the disease, including the underlying cause of dry eye," said Rajesh K. Rajpal, MD, Medical Director and Founder, See Clearly Vision Group, Mclean, VA and Clinical Faculty, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. "Tavilermide has shown the ability to improve patient-reported blurriness and poor vision with a positive comfort and tolerability profile in recent clinical studies. This development program is encouraging for the ophthalmology community seeking new therapies to better address this important area of patient treatment."

Tavilermide was previously licensed by Bausch+Lomb, which was acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in 2013. That exclusive licensing deal was terminated in August 2014.