Valeant and EyeGate sign licensing agreement

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has signed an agreement for global commercial and manufacturing rights to US-based EyeGate Pharmaceuticals’ new technology and EGP-437 combination product candidate to treat post-operative pain and inflammation in occular surgery patients.

Using transscleral iontophoresis to deliver optimal therapeutic levels of drug directly into the targeted ocular tissue, the EyeGate II Delivery System offers a potential alternative to exiting delivery modalities such as eye drops and ocular injections.

The partnership follows an agreement signed in 2015, as part of which Valeant secured a worldwide licence for its subsidiary to the product for uveitis.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals chairman and CEO Joseph Papa said: "We are pleased to extend our relationship with EyeGate, and to obtain the global commercial and manufacturing rights to the EyeGate II Delivery System for the indication of post-operative inflammation and pain in ocular surgery patients.

"We believe that the product has significant potential in the market as part of our Bausch + Lomb business and applaud EyeGate for a remarkable job in advancing the product's development in both uveitis and cataract surgery."

Under the agreement, EyeGate received a cash payment and is also eligible for certain development-based milestone payments, as well as royalties on Valeant's net sales of the product.

EyeGate will continue developing the technology in the US, while Valeant has the right to further develop the product outside the country.

The company reported positive top-line data from a Phase Ib/IIa trial last year assessing iontophoretic EGP-437 to treat occular inflammation and pain in post-surgical cataract patients.

EyeGate Pharmaceuticals president and CEO Stephen From said: "This second licensing agreement with Valeant provides an important validation of both the clinical and commercial potential of iontophoretic EGP-437.

"For the approximately three million cataract surgery patients in the US each year, adherence to the post-operative therapeutic regimen is imperative."