Novartis to offload US rights to five ophthalmic drugs to Harrow

Harrow Health, an ophthalmic therapies developer, will acquire the exclusive US commercial rights to five FDA‑approved ophthalmic products from the Novartis group of companies for up to $175 million.

Under the terms of the arrangement, the Nasdaq-listed Harrow will make a one-time payment of $130 million at closing and up to an additional $45 million milestone payment on Triesence’s commercial availability.

Under the proposed deal, the American eyecare pharmaceutical company will acquire exclusive US rights to the ophthalmic products, namely Ilevro, Nevanac, Vigamox, Maxidex, and Triesence.

Post-closing, Harrow anticipates further increasing and diversifying the company’s portfolio of branded pharmaceutical products and its expertise to cater to the ophthalmic surgical and acute care markets in the US.

Novartis to offload US rights to five ophthalmic drugs to Harrow. Photo courtesy of Novartis AG.

Mark L Baum — Harrow Chairman and CEO said: “We believe the addition of these five products to our ophthalmic pharmaceutical portfolio, which includes newly FDA‑approved IHEEZO, MAXITROL 3.5mg/10,000 units/0.1%, IOPIDINE 1%, and the market-leading ImprimisRx compounded formulary, will be of tremendous value to our customers…

“Assuming this transaction closes during the first quarter of 2023, Harrow expects 2023 net revenues to be between $135 million and $143 million and adjusted EBITDA to be between $44 million and $50 million, with both net revenues and adjusted EBITDA ramping up during 2024 and beyond.”

Novartis will continue to sell the products in the US market and will transfer all net profits to Harrow during a projected six-month new drug application (NDA) transfer period.

Harrow will assume all rights over all US market activities and will commence a process to have the products manufactured by third parties subsequent to the NDA transfer period while Novartis will retain control over the products outside of the US.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, with expected completion in early 2023.