As part of the deal, DURECT will receive an upfront fee of $2m in cash from Santen as well as reverie contingent cash payments upon the achievement of certain development and commercialization milestones.
Following commercialization of the product, DURECT would also receive tiered royalties.
The development program will be controlled and funded by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Santen.
DURECT president and CEO James Brown said: "We’re pleased to be working on this program with Santen given their expertise and global leadership position in the ophthalmology field.
"We’ve been working together on this program as a feasibility project, and are now delighted that Santen has chosen to advance this effort into a formal development program."
The SABER Technology is designed to provide sustained release, bioerodible injectable depot systems and it is the basis of POSIDUR, which is the subject of an NDA, and Relday, which has completed a single dose Phase I clinical trial in the US.
The technology is also the basis for SucroMate Equine, an injectable animal health drug containing the peptide deslorelin.