Allergan Plc bought RetroSense Therapeutics for $60 million and milestone payments.
Allergan maintains a hub in Irvine for eyecare and aesthetics medicine product lines; its U.S. operations are in New Jersey and its corporate headquarters is in Ireland.
RetroSense in Ann Arbor, Mich., is developing a gene therapy to treat retinitis pigmentosa, with a follow-on indication for dry age-related macular degeneration.
Allergan bought a glaucoma-treatment device developer in Menlo Park last month for $95 million plus milestones.
The gene therapy is currently known as RST-001 and is the company’s lead candidate for future approval. It’s in the pre-clinical stage and working toward human clinical trials.
Retinitis Pigmentosa is an inherited condition that produces gradual loss of vision from retinal degradation; dry age-related macular degeneration produces loss in the center of the field of vision as the retina’s center deteriorates.
RST-001 uses a photosensitivity gene to make new photosensors in retinal cells and restore vision.
It isn’t known whether Allergan would move RetroSense operations to Irvine.
—Paul Hughes
