CIBA Vision, British Firm to Partner on Photodynamic Therapy

DULUTH, Ga., Dec. 1 -- The CIBA Vision unit of Novartis has signed a co-development agreement with Destiny Pharma of Brighton, England, that grants CIBA Vision exclusive worldwide rights to develop Destiny Pharma's photodynamic therapy technology for the treatment of ophthalmic diseases. The agreement calls for CIBA Vision to pay a series of milestone payments and royalties to Destiny Pharma, and to take control of development upon completion of the current research program. Destiny Pharma will retain all rights to the technology platform for other disease indications. The technology resulted from an early discovery program jointly developed by Destiny Pharma and the University of East Anglia's School of Chemistry; partial funding was provided by the UK Department of Trade and Industry.
This investment is CIBA Vision's second entry into ophthalmic photodynamic therapy. The company said the Destiny Pharma agreement falls within its overall arrangement with QLT Inc. to develop photodynamic therapy for the eye. CIBA Vision noted that its partnership with QLT already has produced Visudyne therapy, which is currently under review by the US Food and Drug Administration as well as other international regulatory agencies.