Laser Flap Creation Yielded Better LASIK Outcomes Versus Microkeratome

Merck & Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ), announced that it has successfully completed its $430 million acquisition of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Raleigh, NC). The cash tender offer for all outstanding shares (75.4%) of common stock of Inspire was completed by Monarch Transaction Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Merck. The deal, announced in February 2011, allows Merck to expand its ophthalmic business in the United States and acquire AzaSite (azithromycin ophthalmic solution 1%), a treatment for bacterial conjunctivitis. AzaSite’s revenues increased 22% to $42.7 million in 2010, according to Inspire. Following the completion of the deal, it was reported that Inspire President and CEO Adrian Adams, along with a number of senior executives, would be leaving the company.1 Mr. Adams joined Inspire in 2010 after serving as CEO of Sepracor Inc. (now Sunovian Pharmaceuticals Inc., Marlborough, MA), and prior to that, Kos Pharmaceuticals (Cranbury, NJ), which was later acquired by Abbott Laboratories (Abbott Park, IL). Merck also confirmed that it would be closing Inspire’s administrative headquarters in Raleigh this year. Merck spokesman Ian McConnell told Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today that the company plans to keep Inspire’s sales team as Merck tries to re-establish its US presence in ophthalmology with the progression of the proposed glaucoma treatment Saflutan (tafluprost), which is under FDA review.