Sun Pharma Goes Shopping, This Time For An Eye Care Company
Sun Pharma makes another acquisition, Auven Therapeutic’s Ocular Tech
The country's largest pharma company Sun Pharma on Wednesday acquired 100 percent equity in the U.S-based eye care specialist Ocular Technologies Sarl, owned by the private equity firm Auven Therapeutics, for an upfront payment of $40 million.
Sun will pay more, subject to Ocular Technologies Sarl meeting certain drug development and sales milestones. The agreement also has a tiered royalty on sales of Seciera for the U.S-based company for accelerated development of breakthrough therapeutic drugs.
Currently, Ocular is developing Seciera for treating dry eye disease and the drug is currently in a Phase-3 confirmatory clinical trials.
This acquisition signifies continued momentum in enhancing our global branded specialty portfolioDilip Shanghvi, managing director of Sun Pharma
"Coupled with our existing pipeline consisting of BromSite, DexaSite and Xelpros, this initiative will enable us to significantly expand its ophthalmic presence and reach millions of patients globally," he added.
Jerry Peter, vice-president and head of Sun Ophthalmics described the deal as "an important milestone for us, as a specialty business dedicated solely to the needs of eye care practitioners and their patients. This will widen our potential to expand existing portfolio. We hope to bring Seciera to ophthalmologists and optometrists globally, the market for which is estimated to touch $5 billion worldwide by 2020."
The transaction is subject to approval of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission as required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act and other closing conditions, and is expected to be completed by end of 2016.