Business in Brief
It’s been a busy fall in the ophthalmic business space…
- Novartis CEO Joe Jiminez had previously imposed an end-of-year deadline for Alcon to halt falling sales – suggesting that it might end up for sale. Rumors were flamed at an M&A conference in Zurich on Thursday, General Counsel Felix Ehrat would not rule out a sale of Alcon, and is quoted as saying, “Never say never.”
- The FTC state that Valeant has agreed to sell Paragon Holdings Inc. to restore competition in the gas-permeable contact lens market. The agreement has come following allegations that Valeant’s acquisition of the company in 2015 was illegal under antitrust law.
- US prosecutors brought corporate fraud and money laundering charges against Andrew Davenport, a former head of Valeant’s mail 0rder pharmacy unit, Philidor Rx Services, as well as former Valeant manager, Gary Tanner, claiming that Valeant has been defrauded by a secret Philidor kickback scheme.
- Allergan’s XEN glaucoma treatment system has received FDA clearance and will be available for use in the US in early 2017.
- Stealth BioTherapeutics has announced its commencement of a Phase I study to evaluate safety and tolerability of its mitochondrial-targeting drug elamipretide in patients (aged 55 years or older) with dry AMD. Topline results are anticipated in mid-2017.
- Regeneron has announced a revenue increase of seven percent compared with the same quarter of last year, with net sales of aflibercept increasing by 16 percent.
- Carl Zeiss’ Chief Executive, Michael Kaschke told the German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag that the company is looking for targeted takeovers to boost the group’s expansion.
- Allegro Ophthalmics has announced that William Link – co-founder and managing director of Versant Ventures – has joined their board of directors.
