Alcon and AstraZeneca to collaborate on eye drug development
Swiss eye care company Alcon has signed a five-year research agreement with AstraZeneca for the exclusive ophthalmic discovery and potential development rights to AstraZeneca's compound library.
Swiss eye care company Alcon has signed a five-year research agreement with AstraZeneca for the exclusive ophthalmic discovery and potential development rights to AstraZeneca's compound library.
The two companies will develop drugs to treat sight-threatening conditions such as glaucoma, wet and dry age-related macular degeneration and other retinal diseases, as well as ocular allergy, dry eye and other inflammatory eye conditions.
"The combination of AstraZeneca's broad capabilities in discovery and Alcon's scientific expertise in eye disease provides potential for therapies that fulfil unmet medical needs in ophthalmology," said Sabri Markabi, Alcon's senior vice president of research and development and chief medical officer.
"Alcon and AstraZeneca share a common goal to use leading-edge science to deliver medicines that will benefit patients," added Jan Lundberg, AstraZeneca's executive vice president of global discovery research.
Under the terms of the agreement, Alcon obtains immediate access to thousands of AstraZeneca compounds in a variety of drug classes.
Alcon will fund and carry out all r&d to move selected compounds forward. The agreement provides for individual licences to be negotiated for any compound that moves into clinical development, including regulatory milestone payments and royalties on product sales.
