Alcon to acquire ESBATech
Eye care specialist Alcon is to acquire Swiss biotechnology company ESBATech, based in Zurich, for US$150m in cash.
Eye care specialist Alcon is to acquire Swiss biotechnology company ESBATech, based in Zurich, for US$150m in cash.
Alcon, whose majority shareholder is Nestle, will also make contingent payments of up to US$439m based upon the achievement of research and development milestones at the clinical-stage biotechnology company.
"Combining ESBATech's proprietary antibody fragment technology with our expertise in ophthalmic formulation and capabilities in global development will strengthen Alcon's leadership position in ophthalmology," said Sabri Markabi, Alcon's senior vice president of research and development and chief medical officer.
Alcon will acquire all rights to ESBATech's technology for therapeutic application to the eye and "substantially all" of ESBATech's employees will join Alcon upon finalisation of the deal.
Alcon said the deal extends its research capability beyond small molecules to the fields of proteins, antibodies and other large molecules.
The rights to the technology and products for application outside of ophthalmology will be retained by the previous shareholders of ESBATech and spun off into a separate new company called Delenex Therapeutics.
"This acquisition is part of our ongoing strategy to enhance access to multiple sources of technologies and compounds that bolster our total research platform in support of innovative products to treat eye disease," said Kevin Buehler, Alcon's president and chief executive.
The deal follows an agreement with AstraZeneca pairing Alcon's ophthalmic research capability with the drugmaker's drug libraries in a collaborative effort to treat eye diseases.
