AMO divestiture

Inyx, a pharmaceutical company focused on drug delivery technologies and products has acquired six eye care products from Advanced Medical Optics (AMO). Consequently, it has assigned all business and marketing rights of the products to its wholly-owned marketing subsidiary, Exaeris.

As part of the acquisition, Exaeris will be taking over established customer relationships with merchandisers, grocers and drug wholesalers in the United States, in addition to licensed distribution channels in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific markets.

Under the terms of the acquisition agreement, Inyx has gained the rights to the Lens Plus trade name as well as AMO's interest in the intellectual property associated with the products. These include all trademarks, trade names, service marks, copyrights, manufacturing formulae, specifications, processes, artwork and proprietary molds. Under the terms of the agreement, Inyx also has "first right of refusal" over the next year to acquire several additional, complementary eye care products that AMO may divest.

SOLX acquisition complete

On 1 September OccuLogix completed its acquisition of SOLX, the company that developed the DeepLight Glaucoma Treatment System.

SOLX has now become a wholly-owned subsidiary of OccuLogix and its president and CEO, Doug Adams, has joined OccuLogix as president of the new subsidiary.

Sirion and Sytera merge

US based Sirion Therapeutics, in a bid to expand its ophthalmic portfolio, has merged with Sytera, a biopharmaceutical firm committed to discovering new treatments for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

The merger has allowed Sirion to obtain the ST-602 compound, formerly known as SYT101. The compound is said to reduce the accumulation of lipofuscin in the eye by lowering the body's level of serum retinol (vitamin A). It is thought that the accumulation of lipofuscin is responsible for vision loss in diseases such as AMD, geographic atrophy and Stargardt's disease. Sirion is due to initiate a proof of concept trial later this year.

Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed, however Sytera shareholders will be entitled to merger consideration in the form of stock and cash up front, in addition to development and commercialization payments. The newly merged company will be named Sirion Therapeutics.

Bausch & Lomb boosts portfolio

Talecris has granted a worldwide license to Bausch & Lomb for recombinant Plasmin technology for use in ophthalmology.

The agreement extends the partnership announced last year in which Bausch & Lomb licensed plasma-derived Plasmin from Talecris' predecessor, Bayer Biological Products.

The companies are set to co-develop rPlasmin, a recombinant derivative of the human blood component, which Bausch believes will have a role to play in developing novel therapies for ocular conditions. Talecris will develop the technology for non-ocular applications.

Bausch & Lomb has begun enrolling subjects in early stage clinical trials to evaluate Plasmin's potential to relieve retinal traction.

Ophthalmology market worth $13 billion in 2008

With the market for ophthalmic treatment experiencing rapid growth, total global revenues are expected to rise from $7.8 billion in 2004 to more than $13 billion in 2008, according to recent market research.

The research, conducted by Kalorama Information, has shown that the popularity of LASIK and other laser systems, which in 2004 represented 50% of worldwide revenues for refractive vision correction, is already being challenged by new lens implantation technology and the advent of phakic IOLs. These are predicted to command 30% of market revenues by 2008.

While refractive vision correction treatments have a substantial impact in the developed world, they are insignificant when compared to the larger global impact of blindness caused by eye disease. As the world's population ages, the proportion of treatments administered will substantially increase, raising this portion of the ophthalmic market from $6.9 billion in 2004 to $9.8 billion in 2008.