MISSION VIEJO, CA — Wellspring Ophthalmics, a development-stage eyecare pharmaceutical company focused on dry eye therapy, has acquired a patent portfolio from Newport Research.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition consists of patents for a cyclosporine dry eye therapy. It includes “an issued patent, an allowed patent and the rest of an intellectual property portfolio covering a broad formulation platform of a unique suspension comprising aqueous, amorphous nanodispersions of cyclosporine,” according to a press release.
Wellspring “will now seek a licensee who will complete development and commercialize its newly acquired innovative platform.”
More from the release:
Dry eye is under-diagnosed and under-treated — about 30 million people in the U.S. suffer from dry eye, but only about 17 million are diagnosed. About 1.7 million people in the U.S. are treated with prescription eye drops and this market is estimated at over $1.5 billion annually worldwide. Today’s branded and generic prescription cyclosporine products are mostly emulsions, which have been shown to have low bioavailability in the eye and to produce poor patient outcomes.
Wellspring Ophthalmics’ newly acquired proprietary broad formulation platform is an innovative suspension comprising aqueous, amorphous nanodispersions of cyclosporine. These formulations are designed to have higher bioavailability for better efficacy and improved dry eye relief. The patented and patent-pending formulation platform is flexible and overcomes known deficiencies of current cyclosporine eye drops, including emulsions and solutions.
“This patent portfolio addressing an unmet need in eye care poises us to unite with the right development and commercialization partner to deliver an unrivaled therapy to countless dry eye sufferers,” said Orlando Rodrigues, Co-founder, CEO and President of Wellspring Ophthalmics. “Our patented suspension formulations will be able to offer improved dry eye relief because they are designed to have better ocular bioavailability than emulsions and they can also contain much higher concentrations of cyclosporine than current emulsions or solutions. Additionally, we want to thank the team at Newport Research for their diligent effort to complete the initial development work necessary for us to reach this point.”
Wellspring Ophthalmics will now seek a licensee who will complete development and commercialize its newly acquired innovative platform.
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