Shire gains a de­layed FDA OK for ‘block­buster’ dry eye drug li­fite­grast

Nine months af­ter the FDA hand­ed Shire $SH­PG a re­jec­tion for its dry eye drug li­fite­grast, the biotech com­pa­ny says it’s bounced back with a de­layed ap­proval from the FDA. And now Shire will set out to see if it can achieve its ear­li­er fore­cast of more than a bil­lion dol­lars in an­nu­al sales.

Shire will be tack­ling a broad mar­ket in­clud­ing more than 16 mil­lion peo­ple who have been di­ag­nosed with dry eye dis­ease. The com­pa­ny plans to get start­ed mar­ket­ing the eye drop ther­a­py in a few months, sell­ing it as Xi­idra.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER