2023-03-14 06:50:07 ET
Novartis ( NYSE: NVS ) is starting the sale of some of its ophthalmology assets as it plans to focus more on its core areas, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The assets include, dry eye therapy Xiidra, which saw sales of $487M in 2022. The company has engaged an adviser to check interest in the so-called front-of-eye therapies, the report added.
Novartis had acquired Xiidra from Takeda Pharmaceutical in 2019 for $3.4B upfront cash plus up to an additional $1.9B in milestones.
The current eye care assets do not include wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD) therapy Lucentis, which generated ~$1.87B in revenue in 2022, the report noted citing sources.
The company expects the portfolio will see interest from private equity and strategic players. Novartis has begun reaching out to potential parties, but the discussions are ongoing and the company could decide against it.
In November 2022, it was reported that the Swiss pharma giant was mulling the full or part sale of its ophthalmology and respiratory units.
Novartis already spun-off its eye care business Alcon in 2019 and the company is about to go a similar route with its generics and biosimilars division Sandoz.
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Novartis begins sale of certain eye care assets - report