Advanced Ocular to acquire patents to develop anti-inflammatory eye treatments

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Feb. 17 - Advanced Ocular Systems Ltd. announced Thursday that it plans to acquire a series of U.S. patents to expand its technology portfolio to include anti-inflammatory treatments for various eye diseases.

The new portfolio patent applications, once granted, will potentially cover the ocular use of anti-VEGF agents including Genentech's drug Avastin, according to a company news release.

The agents may be used alone or in combination with a range of anti-inflammatory agents or other anti-VEGF molecules, officials said.

The recently acquired intellectual property augments patent applications held by Advanced Ocular relating to combination therapies involving the ocular use of the steroid triamcinolone acetonide (TA) with anti-VEGF agents in the treatment of retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Advanced Ocular holds U.S. patents for the use of TA in the eye, including as a treatment for age-related macular degeneration. The anti-VEGF co-therapy patent applications include the potential use of Avastin with TA to treat ocular inflammation, officials said.

The anti-VEGF patent applications were acquired from U.S.-based technology group MINU LLC, which manages an extensive opthalmic patent portfolio.

Terms of the acquisition consideration are confidential; however, the transaction has been structured predominantly as a revenue-sharing deal with Advanced Ocular retaining more than 80% of recurrent commercialization revenues, officials said.

"The acquisition does not require any significant cash payments by [Advanced Ocular] until the issue of granted patents or completion of licensing or commercialization outcomes," Kenneth Taylor, chief executive officer, said in the release.

Advanced Ocular is a Marblehead, Mass., pharmaceutical company focused on development and commercialization of innovative ocular drugs and refractive surgical devices.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.