The deal is ‘an important business milestone.’
FORT WORTH, TX — Eyevance Pharmaceuticals LLC has acquired the FreshKote family of lubricant eye drops from Focus Laboratories Inc.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“The acquisition of the FRESHKOTE franchise represents an important business milestone for Eyevance, which is actively building a portfolio of impactful and innovative eye care products, focused on the anterior segment of the eye,” said Jerry St. Peter, CEO and director, Eyevance. “With the introduction of FRESHKOTE PF, Eyevance is the first and only company to now offer an eye lubricant product line that is exclusively preservative free, available in both a multi-dose bottle and single-unit vials.
“The tear market is oversaturated with preserved formulations, therefore, FRESHKOTE PF is a welcomed, vanguard addition for patients with dry eye.”
The non-prescription FreshKote Preservative Free (PF) is designed to support the integrity of all three layers of the eye’s tear film, offering dry eye patients relief from symptoms.
“Following our new reformulation and improvement of FRESHKOTE, we are excited to hand off this asset to an emerging ophthalmic-focused company,” said Patrick Witham, director, Focus Laboratories. “This divestiture provides the opportunity for Focus to further concentrate its efforts on the discovery and development of new innovative therapies in ocular medicine.”
Eyevance’s acquisition of FreshKote follows the announcement of an exclusive licensing agreement with Nicox Ophthalmics Inc. for prescription-only Zerviate (cetirizine ophthalmic solution) 0.24% for the treatment of ocular itching associated with allergic conjunctivitis. Eyevance plans to launch Zerviate in early 2019.