Less than two months after Viatris announced it would be purchasing Oyster Point Pharma and Famy Life Sciences, the company has officially completed its acquisitions and established a new Viatris Eye Care Division.
Remind me again what this means.
This acquisition gives Viatris the start of a strong foothold in the ophthalmic pharmaceutical industry, as it now owns the rights to Tyrvaya (originally developed by Oyster Point), the first and currently only FDA-approved nasal spray for the treatment of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease.
Anything in the pipeline to watch for?
Viatris now has one investigational therapy (OC-103 AAV-DAO) for vernal/atopic keratoconjunctivitis, which is an adeno-associated virus (AAV) delivery platform delivered by an intralacrimal gland injection and two investigational therapies for neurotrophic keratopathy stage 1 and 2-3, including OC-01 (varenicline solution) nasal spray and another AAV entity (OC-101 AAV-NGF) delivered by an intralacrimal gland injection, respectively. Phase 2 results on OC-01 for neurotrophic keratopathy Stage 1 are expected this quarter. (via)
Famy is also noted as having a phase 3-ready pipeline of ophthalmic candidates.
Wait .. didn’t Famy just enter into another deal?
Indeed they did. The company announced in November that a new global license agreement with Ocuphire Pharma gives Ocuphire the exclusive right to develop and commercialize Nyxol (phentolamine ophthalmic solution) eye drops. Read more about that here.
Who’s going to lead this new eyecare division?
Jeffrey Nau, PhD, MMS. Sound familiar? It should … he’s the (now former) CEO of Oyster Point Pharma.
What else does this deal include?
For Oyster Point, the agreement included an estimated $415 million in cash upfront with $11 per share paid to its stockholders via repayment of the principal amount of certain debt (from Oyster Point). Also included is one non-tradeable contingent value right, representing an estimated $60 million in the aggregate, pending the company earning certain metrics from its 2022 performance
The aggregate acquisition price for Famy is approximately $280 million.
What does this mean for Viatris’s future?
These acquisitions have potential to add at least $1 billion to Viatris’s sales by 2028. (via)