Pharmaceutical giant Merck, which recently completed its $430 million acquisition of Inspire Pharmaceuticals, is closing the company's Raleigh headquarters as of Aug. 31 and eliminating 51 jobs.

Merck notified N.C. officials yesterday of its plans to shut down the headquarters. "The entire facility is to be closed," Merck said in the letter to the N.C. Department of Commerce.

The move will mean the elimination of 51 jobs left at the Inspire office, Merck reported. Last month Merck said it planned to close Inspire's local headquarters before the end of the year. At that time, the company had an estimated 60 workers in Raleigh.

Inspire was founded in 1995 on research conducted at UNC-Chapel Hill and went public in 2000. It had 240 employees at the outset of this  year, but cut 27 percent of its workforce in February after its experimental treatment for cystic fibrosis unexpectedly failed in clinical trials. That failure, after 10 years and $120 million spent on the drug's development, triggered the company's sale.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals reported a bigger net loss during the first quarter, mostly because of expenses related to a restructuring and layoffs.

The Raleigh-based company agreed last month to be bought by Merck for about $430 million. Inspire sells drugs to treat eye ailments, but stumbled when an experimental treatment for cystic fibrosis failed in a clinical trial.

After that misstep, Inspire announced in February that it would cut 65 jobs, or about a quarter of its workforce.

For the first three months of this year, Inspire had a net loss of $17.6 million, compared with a loss of $14.8 million a year earlier.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals, a Raleigh drug-development company, announced this morning that it agreed to be bought by Merck for about $430 million.

Merck will pay $5 per share for Inspire, which earlier this year scrapped efforts to develop an experimental drug to treat cystic fibrosis.

Inspire's stock, which is down 36 percent in the past year, closed Monday at $3.98.

In February, Inspire announced it would cut about a quarter of its workforce, or 65 jobs, as it restructured to focus on products to treat various eye ailments.

The deal with Merck will end Inspire's run as one of the Triangle's successful independent drug companies.

Inspire's largest investor, Warburg Pincus, has agreed to the terms of the deal.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals plans to pay every remaining employee a retention bonus after the Raleigh drug-development company restructured its operations and slashed jobs.

The amount will be based on various factors, including current position and salary.

CEO Adrian Adams will be eligible for a bonus of $812,500, on top of other compensation, Inspire reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Chief administrative and legal officer Andrew Koven will receive $398,400.

Employees will receive the bonuses only if they stay with Inspire for at least the next year.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals reported that its potential treatment for cystic fibrosis failed to meet key treatment goals in a late clinical study.

The news disappointed investors, who sent shares of the company down in early morning trading. Inspire, which is moving its headquarters to Raleigh from Durham this month, has been counting on the drug to help it expand beyond its line of medicines for various eye ailments.

The company is studying denufosol tetrasodium as a treatment cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition that causes thick mucus buildup in the lungs. The results from the so-called Tiger-2 test mark a setback after a previous, successful study of the drug.

"These Tiger-2 results were disappointing and unexpected given the treatment effect observed in the Tiger-1 trial," CEO Adrian Adams said in a prepared statement. 

Inspire Pharmaceuticals' partner in Japan began selling its dry eye treatment in that country today, triggering a $1.25 million payment for the Durham company.

Inspire also will receive royalty payments for Japanese sales of the drug, known as Diquas, under the agreement with partner Santen Pharmaceutical.

Inspire also is testing a new treatment for cystic fibrosis.

“We are completing this year with continued strong operational momentum," said Inspire CEO Adrian Adams, in a prepared statement.

That included recently paying off its debt. And the company is preparing to move its headquarters from an office park in Durham to a new building in Raleigh's Brier Creek area next month.

Inspire shares closed Friday at $7.10, up 8 cents.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals reported stronger sales and a smaller loss for the third quarter.

The company, which is moving its headquarters to Raleigh from Durham in January, saw total revenue rise to $26.7 million, up 6 percent from a year ago.

Sales of its drugs to treat various eye diseases continue to climb as the company's researchers work to develop an experimental treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals is an attractive stock, partly because it may be a takeover target, celebrity investor Jim Cramer said during his "Mad Money" TV show on Friday.

Inspire's larger partner Allergan has said it's interested in expanding and could consider buying promising products and companies. It would be easy for Allergan, with a $20 billion market cap, to absorb the much smaller Inspire, with a market cap of $560 million, Cramer noted.

Buying the Durham company would give Allergan new revenue from Inspire's treatments for eye diseases. It's also working on an experimental medicine for cystic fibrosis with the hopes of expanding into the market for pulmonary diseases.

Inspire "gives you two ways to win," Cramer said. Allergan already pays royalties to Inspire for the dry-eye drug Restasis, "so a merger here just makes sense."

While Cramer's rapid-fire rants and speculation don't cause big stock jumps as much as they once did, he remains popular with some investors who follow his recommendations.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals filed plans to raise as much as $150 million by selling common stock, debt or other securities on Wall Street.

The so-called shelf registration submitted with the Securities and Exchange Commission today, allows the publicly traded company to sell new securities as needed.

Inspire disclosed that it could use the money raised for a variety of purposes, including repaying debt, capital expenditures and acquisitions.

Inspire sells drugs to treat various eye diseases and also is testing an experimental treatment for cystic fibrosis with the hopes of expanding into the market for pulmonary medicines.

The company's board recruited drug industry veteran Adrian Adams as its new CEO earlier this year.

Inspire Pharmaceuticals reported that revenue rose 18 percent in the second quarter.

The company, which sells drugs to treat eye ailments, announced this morning that revenue for the three months ended June 30 was $27.3 million.

Inspire's net loss for the period was $8.8 million, a slight improvement from the loss of $9.5 a year earlier.

The results were in line with Wall Street analysts' projections. As with other drug companies in the Triangle, Inspire is losing money as it tests new, experimental treatments, including one for cystic fibrosis.