AbbVie, a Chicago-based biotech company with a bioresearch facility in Worcester, will partner with Belgian eye-care researcher iSTAR Medical to develop and commercialize a device to treat glaucoma.
AbbVie will provide a $60-million payment to iSTAR for the firm to advance its MINIject device, which is a minimally invasive glaucoma surgical device, according to AbbVie’s announcement Wednesday.
iSTAR has launched the device commercially in some European countries and is enrolling patients in a  U.S. premarket approval study to enable commercialization in the U.S.
In return for the payment, AbbVie will hold the exclusive rights to acquire iSTAR Medical and lead subsequent global development and commercialization of the MINIject device after completion of the premarket study.
AbbVie maintains the 550,000-square-foot Abbvie Bioresearch Center in Worcester and employs approximately 1,000 people in Central Massachusetts.
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