Pfizer, Bausch team up to promote eye drugs

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) and Bausch & Lomb will collaborate on promoting both companies' prescription eye drugs in the United States, significantly increasing the support for the products, the companies said on Tuesday.

The five-year agreement involves Pfizer's glaucoma drug Xalatan and three Bausch products: Alrex for conjunctivitis, Lotemax for inflammatory conditions, and Zylet, which is a combined anti-inflammatory and anti-infective medicine.

The deal also includes Bausch's besifloxacin, an anti-infective eye drop under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Both the Pfizer and Bausch sales forces will promote the drugs, the companies said in a joint press release. Financial terms of the deal between Pfizer, the world's largest drugmaker, and eye-care company Bausch were not released.

"Working in collaboration, our U.S. sales organizations will now represent one of the broadest product offerings in the U.S. ophthalmic market," Flemming Ornskov, Bausch's global president of pharmaceuticals, said in a statement.

Separate from the agreement, Pfizer will continue to maintain three mid-stage ophthalmic development programs in its own pipeline.

(Reporting by Lewis Krauskopf; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)