Sun Pharma – the world’s fifth largest specialty generic pharmaceutical company and India’s top pharmaceutical company providing medicines to customers and patients in over 150 countries across the world. Its global presence is supported by 47 manufacturing facilities spread across 6 continents, R&D centres across the globe.
The company today announced the acquisition of 100% of Ocular Technologies, Sarl (OTS), a portfolio company of Auven Therapeutics (Auven) – an international private equity company focused on accelerated development of breakthrough therapeutic drugs. OTS owns exclusive, worldwide rights to Seciera™ (cyclosporine A, 0.09% ophthalmic solution).
Sun Pharma will pay Auven US$ 40 million upfront, plus contingent development milestones and sales milestones as well as tiered royalty on sales of Seciera™ as consideration for this acquisition. The transaction is subject to approval of the US Federal Trade Commission and is expected to be completed by end of 2016.
What is Seciera™?
Seciera™ is currently in a Phase-3 confirmatory clinical trial for the treatment of Dry Eye Disease, an inflammatory ocular disease affecting approximately 16 million people in the United States* alone.
Commenting on the deal, Dilip Shanghvi, Managing Director, Sun Pharma said:
This potential acquisition signifies continued momentum in enhancing our global branded specialty portfolio. Coupled with our existing pipeline consisting of BromSite™, DexaSite™ and Xelpros™, this initiative will enable Sun Pharma to significantly expand its ophthalmic presence and reach millions of patients globally. We hope to bring Seciera™, to ophthalmologists and optometrists globally and participate in a dynamic market that is estimated to reach almost US$ 5 billion worldwide by 2020.
Stephen Evans-Freke, Co-Founder and Managing General Partner of Auven Therapeutics said:
After extensive due diligence, we selected Sun Pharma as the best company to realize the clinical and commercial potential of Seciera. We believe that the Sun Pharma team has the ophthalmology expertise, the corporate focus and the commercial resources to launch Seciera aggressively in the U.S. and major global markets. We are confident Sun will optimize Seciera’s impact on a large, rapidly growing disease indication that is clearly underserved by currently available treatment options.
In other news, Sun Pharma’s subsidiary has launched in US, the Authorized Generic (AG) versions of:
- Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets
- Olmesartan Medoxomil-Hydrochlorothiazide tablets
- Amlodipine Besylate-Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets
- Amlodipine Besylate-Hydrochlorothiazide-Olmesartan Medoxomil tablets
The launch is pursuant to a distribution and supply agreement between Sun Pharma’s wholly owned subsidiary and Daiichi Sankyo Inc., which grants the Sun Pharma subsidiary, exclusive rights to distribute these tablets in the US for a pre-determined period. These 4 therapeutic products recorded US sales of approximately US$ 2.5 billion for the 12 months ending August 31, 2016, as per IMS Health.
Sun Pharma is due to announce their second quarter results in 14 days (10-Nov-2016) when there will be more clarity provided on this acquisition and the potential revenue from the above generic versions.
