STAT+: After leaving patients in limbo, Pfizer agrees to sell a discontinued glaucoma drug
After months of controversy, Pfizer (PFE) has reached a deal to sell a decades-old eye drug that it recently discontinued over long-running manufacturing concerns, a move that critics said left patients in the lurch.
In a brief statement, the drug maker disclosed that it had transferred the rights to the eye drop — which is called phospholine iodide and is used to treat a rare form of glaucoma — to Fera Pharmaceuticals, a small privately held company run by a former executive at Sandoz, the generic unit at Novartis (NVS). Terms and a closing deal for the sale were not disclosed.
