Kala Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: KALA) confirmed that it has decided to sell its commercial portfolio and related intellectual property assets. The company has inked an agreement with Alcon Inc to sell EYSUVIS and INVELTYS. EYSUVIS is the first and only U.S. FDA authorized medicine for the short-term cure of the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease, and INVELTYS is a twice-a-day corticosteroid for the cure of post-operative inflammation and pain following ocular surgery.
Alcon is an excellent partner for expanding Kala’s commercial assets’ reach. Alcon has a long history of providing market-leading vision care to patients all over the world, and they have strong franchises in dry eye illness and surgical treatment, so they are well-versed in eye care professionals and the patients EYSUVIS and INVELTYS are designed to help.
The sale of EYSUVIS and INVELTYS is a critical milestone in carrying out Kala’s strategic plan and achieving its goal of developing new medicines to address large unmet needs in ophthalmology. Furthermore, Kala is intending to focus on developing KPI-012 which is a novel cell-free secretome therapy that has the ability to tackle a number of rare and severe ocular diseases.
Additionally, Kala expects to start a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of KPI-012 for persistent corneal epithelial defect (PCED) in the fourth quarter of 2022, depending upon the submission and approval of an investigational new drug application, and intends to increase its development programme for KPI-012 into additional front and back of the eye indications in the months ahead.
Agreement Overview
Kala will get a $60 million upfront payment and will be entitled for commercial-based sales milestone payments under the terms of the asset purchase agreement. The transaction is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2022, depending upon certain events such as the expiration of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act waiting period and other normal closing requirements.