Inspire scuttles eye drug and pencils new deal with Allergan

Seven months after reporting that its lead drug failed a late-stage trial, Durham, NC-based Inspire Pharmaceuticals has opted to shelve the dry eye therapy and recalculate its partnership deal with Allergan.

Inspire gets back all rights to Prolacria, which proved a disappointment in Phase III and will now go into limbo, with no plans for a new study. And Inspire will get stepped down revenue rates from sales of Restasis and "any other human ophthalmic formulations of cyclosporine owned or controlled by Allergan."

According to a 2009 report in BNET, Inspire's deal with Allergan over Restasis was tied closely to Prolacria's development. If the Prolacria pact disintegrated, Inspire could co-promote Restasis provided it fielded a sales force equivalent to 20 percent of Allergan's effort--an expensive proposition. Once Prolacria went away, Allergan would be in a position to renegotiate its sales revenue deal with Inspire.

"We are pleased to have now gained sole control over any future Prolacria development while retaining the right to leverage the asset as appropriate," says Inspire CEO Adrian Adams in a statement. "At this time, we are not planning to proceed with clinical development of Prolacria. Our strategy is to create shareholder value by focusing resources on our Azasite franchise and our potentially transformational denufosol tetrasodium for cystic fibrosis program."

- check out the Inspire release