Ista acquires North American rights to nasal formulation of ocular allergy drug

IRVINE, Calif. — Ista Pharmaceuticals has licensed exclusive North American rights to nasal dosage formulations of the investigational allergy drug bepotastine from Tanabe Seiyaku Co., Ista announced in a press release.

Ista obtained exclusive North American rights to ocular allergy applications of bepotastine last year and has been developing the drug to treat allergen-associated ocular itching.

The company decided to add nasal bepotastine to its development pipeline after phase 2 and phase 3 studies for ocular allergy indications also showed that the drug had a positive impact on nasal allergy symptoms.

Ista anticipates completing the nasal bepotastine formulation in 2008 and beginning clinical development in late 2008 or early 2009, according to the release.

"As we now have four product candidates in our pipeline, T-Pred (prednisolone acetate 1%, tobramycin 0.3%), ecabet sodium, ophthalmic bepotastine and nasal bepotastine, that will be of interest to a broader audience, we will look to maximize the value of our assets beyond the non-ophthalmic community by exploring options to work with others to expand our sales reach," said Vicente Anido Jr., president and CEO of Ista, in the release. "However, it is our intention that Ista will remain committed to the ophthalmologist and retain our ophthalmic specialist focus."