Xoma Will License a Protein to Allergan

Eye-care-products maker Allergan Inc. said it will pay up to $11 million to license a bacteria-fighting protein from biopharmaceuticals maker Xoma Ltd. for use in a family of eye-infection treatments.

Xoma, which is based in Berkeley, said Irvine’s Allergan will make a series of licensing payments as development and sales goals are reached.

Allergan also will pay development costs for future products and royalties from sales of products containing the anti-bacterial protein, which Xoma will manufacture for Allergan.

The protein, called rBPI, for recombinant bactericidal permeability- increasing protein, will be used by Allergan in conjunction with other infection-fighting substances to develop treatments for eye infections, especially those caused by bacteria that have become resistant to antibiotics.

Allergan officials could not be reached Monday for comment. The company’s stock rose 31 cents in moderate trading on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $107 a share.